Where is Gold Headed Now?

Our predictions came true from 2006 when we hypothesized gold could soon reach $1,000 an once, in our article, The Rising Price of Gold and Retail Jewelry. But are we right in our predictions this time? With the world insecure about this political season's "#1 issue", the economy, no one truly knows the future state of gold. But, of course, we can speculate ...

When we wrote that article, back in April 2006, gold was at approx. $600 an ounce. By March of 2008, just under two years later, we witnessed gold exceed $1,000 per ounce for the first time in its history.

The thought of gold reaching $1,000 as quickly as it did, seemed unlikely to us. We had hoped it would take at least 3-4 years or more to get there. After all, we do not necessarily make more money as a jewelry retailer when gold prices increase. What happens instead is that our prices increase -- yet our margins remain approx. the same, since we too are purchasing jewelry at a higher cost from our gold manufacturers and suppliers.

As a company, Apples of Gold Jewelry actually wants gold prices to fall, therefore making gold jewelry more affordable for our customers.

But where is gold headed now? We can only guess, as we did before, but we are hearing in the media and print the quiet murmurings of a gold bubble. If that seems unlikely, it also seemed equally unlikely to us when we predicted gold $1,000 back in April, 2006.

As I write this article, I hardly believe that gold will go significantly lower, but at the same time, history shows that gold, like many other commodities that have run high, will eventually decrease in value, especially as the economy stabilizes. Gold did see around $800 per ounce back in the 1980s, and later it dropped to the mid $200s after being elevated to such high levels. Will gold at some point in the near future have a mini-crash back down to $500 or $600 per ounce?

This can depend on several factors, including the U.S. and world economy, the strength of the dollar, the price of oil, the housing market, political change, and many other factors. The "buzz" on the street that we are hearing is that investors should "hold" gold, but not purchase anymore. What many investors are saying is that gold has had its run and now is too late to get in the market. Gold is a great investment when times are tough, when the dollar is down, when the economy is showing signs of trouble. Will that turn around soon? That is the question that we will have to wait and let economic history and world affairs play themselves out.

Then again, some are still brazen enough to predict gold will reach $2,000 per ounce in the near future -- but those voices are now fewer and farther in between.

All we can tell you is that the general mood of the market is that gold may go a little higher still, but then again, it may stabilize or head lower. No one is really sure at this pivot point in the gold market.

We were right once two years ago. We're not sure if we will be right again.