Gold futures will drive to the threshold price of $2,000 per troy ounce by the end of the year due to the central bank of the U.S. deploying an asset purchasing program, a Merrill Lynch official told CNBC.
The U.S. Federal Reserve will establish an asset purchasing program valued at as much as $500 billion during the second half of this year, according to global commodity and multi-asset strategy research head Francisco Blanch with the investment house. Consequently, the price of gold will advance to that milestone price by the end of this year, he said.
"We think that $2,000 an ounce is sort of the right number," Blanch told the news service last month. "We believe that ultimately the Fed will be forced to do quantitative easing. If it happens in September, as our economists expect, we will get a rally sooner in gold. If it happens after the election, we will get the rally a little bit later; probably we will touch $2000 an ounce sometime next year."
Reuters reports Ben Bernanke is likely to devote the remainder of his summer to delving into economic data that might lead to additional intervention.
At 8:08 a.m. on Thursday, gold futures edged up 0.07 percent, a $1.20 lift to $1,608.50 per troy ounce.
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