Investors continue to pull cash from bullion-backed ETFs as gold prices decline and now Goldman Sachs is predicting that further outflows from exchange traded products will put even more pressure on the metal.
For example, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEArca: GLD) has seen net redemptions of about $7.7 billion year to date, the most for any U.S.-listed ETF, according to IndexUniverse.
GLD is the largest gold ETF with 1,200 metric tons of the precious metal and nearly $61 billion in assets under management.
Gold prices have fallen below $1,600 an ounce after topping out around $1,900 in 2011. Goldman Sachs commodity analysts are forecasting more weakness and advising clients to short gold.
“Given gold’s recent lackluster price action and our economists’ expectation that the acceleration in US growth later this year to above-trend pace will support US real rates, we are lowering our USD-denominated gold price forecast once again,” Goldman said, according to an FT Alphaville report.
“While there are risks for modest near-term upside to gold prices should US growth continue to slow down, we see risks to current prices as skewed to the downside as we move through 2013,” the analysts said.