Bear market for gold?

Soros Sees Gold Prices on Brink of Bear Market

By Nicholas Larkin, Maria Kolesnikova and Debarati Roy

Gold is poised to complete its 11th consecutive annual gain, the longest winning streak in at least nine decades, on the brink of a bear market.
George Soros, the billionaire who two years ago called it the “ultimate asset bubble,” cut 99 percent of his holdings in the first quarter, Securities and Exchange Commission data show. Hedge fund managers John Paulson, Paul Touradji and Eric Mindich also sold bullion this year. While speculators in New York futures are the least bullish (.MMGCNET) in 31 months, the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 44 traders and analysts is for prices to rally as much as 40 percent to $2,140 an ounce in 2012.
The divergence of views is widening after prices declined 19 percent from a record close of $1,900.23 on Sept. 5, or 1 percentage point away from a bear market. As some investors retreated to cash amid a $10 trillion slump in global equity values since May, others bought more metal, taking holdings in exchange-traded products to an all-time high two weeks ago. Bullion’s 7.6 percent gain in 2011 means it’s on track to beat stocks, bonds and the dollar for a second straight year.
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Comment: The big, big rally for gold is still lacking. It will be only after the mega run that the bubble will burst. Now is the time to get in again with tranquility.