Gold futures may rise in New York on speculation slowing economies in the U.S. and Europe will boost demand for safer investments. The U.S. economy will expand at an average 2.3 percent annual rate in the second half of the year, about a percentage point less than projected last month, according to the median forecast of 53 economists polled by Bloomberg News this month. European industrial production unexpectedly fell in June and France’s economy stalled in the second quarter, reports showed. “There are few alternatives to gold right now,” Edel Tully, an analyst at UBS AG in London, said in a report. Some variety of so-called quantitative easing in the U.S. “is becoming increasingly likely, and QE can’t be ruled out in the U.K., Europe, Switzerland or Japan,” she said. Quantitative easing denotes asset purchases by central banks. Gold futures for December delivery were little changed at $1,751 an ounce at 8:51 a.m. on the Comex in New York. Prices are up 6 percent this week, on course for a sixth straight gain and the biggest climb since February 2009. Bullion for immediate delivery fell 0.9 percent to $1,748.88 in London. Gross domestic product in the U.S. will expand 2.4 percent next year and 2.8 percent in 2013, also less than previously estimated, according to the economists. The Federal Reserve has spent $2.3 trillion on two rounds of bond purchases. ETP Holdings Holdings of gold in exchange-traded products fell yesterday by 23.6 metric tons, the most since Jan. 24, to 2,185.9 tons, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Eleven of 20 traders, investors and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, or 55 percent, said bullion will rise next week. Seven predicted lower prices and two were neutral. Gold may top $2,000 an ounce on speculation that the global economy will weaken, Mitchell Krebs, chief executive officer of Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp., said in a Bloomberg Television interview. Coeur d’Alene, based in the city of the same name in Idaho, produces gold and silver. Platinum for October delivery rose 0.7 percent to $1,805 an ounce, rebounding above gold’s price after dropping below it on Aug. 8 for the first time since the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008. Silver for September delivery fell 0.1 percent to $38.64 an ounce, and palladium for September delivery gained 2.1 percent to $749 an ounce. To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in London at tdreibus@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net

Source