Optimism Rebounding Along With Gold

A Bloomberg report, as webbed by Business Week, passes along the latest forecast from Citigroup's technical-analysis department: should gold make it above $1,104 and stay there, its move "would constitute a 'bullish break' and might signal a further climb toward the January high of $1,161.

“The price action down from the high in December looks corrective, and we believe the market is at risk of turning back up again over the coming days and weeks,” Citigroup technical analysts led by Tom Fitzpatrick in New York wrote today in a report.

Not mentioned: the last time gold forded up to that level, it was knocked down by the People's Bank of China announcing a reserve-ratio hike for the Chinese banking system. A later announcement has done little to hold the gold price down, but an outright rate hike might.