Reuters Compliation Of Recent Gold Forecasts

They're from various financial institutions, mostly banks. What's surprising about this Factbox is not just the overall bullishness in the group, but also the sedateness of the forecasts. Goldman, Sachs stands out as the most optimistic of the bunch, for predicting that the 2010 average gold price will average $1265/oz and reach $1350 in twelve months. Most of the banks polled pick $1100-$1200 as 2010's average price.

Even though those numbers are above today's price, they're pretty moderate. If the banks mean "average" in the strict sense, and if their forecasts are averaged to produce a consensus, then they're saying that someone who buys gold today has a 50% chance of a 5%-or-so profit some time next year. That's not wild by any means.