Today in Gold: Tuesday, March 10

Each weekday, Cash4Gold will troll through the web's gold banter and post some of the bigger or more interesting stories. Following is a run-down of today's features:

"Gold Futures End Below $900 an ounce"
Author: Polya Lesova
Website: www.MarketWatch.com

Main Points: It's a short article, so I'll just quote the whole thing.

"Gold futures ended below $900 an ounce Tuesday, as a rally on Wall Street reduced the metal's appeal as a safe haven. Gold for April delivery dropped $22.10 to end at $895.90 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the benchmark contract hit an intraday low of $893.50 an ounce."

Analysis: Today's activity supports the theory that gold is most successful when things are their darkest. There was a glimmer of hope today in the stock market when Citigroup announced it has been operating at a profit thus far this year. Due to that good news, investors were more willing to dive back into the stock market.

"Fund managers, CEOs forecast higher gold"
Author: Frank Tang
Website: www.Reuters.com

Main Points: Fund managers and top mining executives expect gold prices to remain volatile for the short term, but forecast growth over the long term.

"I think that gold as an attractive asset class is continuing to grow, and that is evidenced by the strong inflow to the ETF market," said Aaron Regent, CEO of Barrick Gold.

Nick Holland, CEO of Gold Fields, called it a "distinct possibility" that the price of gold could eclipse the $1,000 mark once again within the next couple of months, assuming the financial conditions continue to worsen.

Fund managers, on the other hand, view the short term as very volatile, but with longer term payoff. Frank Holmes, CEO of US Global Investors, forecasts "$100 of risk on the downside for bullion, and about $300 on the upside over the next six months. That is the risk-reward ratio that I am looking at."

Analysis: It's up, it's down, it's all around. Every day, we read strong long-term forecasts for gold in conjunction with dropping prices. Some of the more aggressively optimistic predictions, however, seem to be dwindling. Even so, there appears to be agreement that while the price of gold has been shaky of late, clearer skies are ahead -- if not for the economy.