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  3. A prominent gold forecaster predicts the yellow metal will drop to a mere $ 350 an ounce, dramatically lower than what most expe

A prominent gold forecaster predicts the yellow metal will drop to a mere $ 350 an ounce, dramatically lower than what most expe

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问题     A prominent gold forecaster predicts the yellow metal will drop to a mere $ 350 an ounce, dramatically lower than what most experts are currently calling for. But Claude Erb’s prediction might have merit. Back in 2012, Erb, a former commodities trader at TCW Group, co-authored a landmark research paper with Duke University professor Campbell Harvey that was early to predict gold’s downfall. At the time, gold was fetching north of $ 1,600 an ounce. Now it’s trading below $ 1,100.
    The paper used historical analysis to show that if gold is an inflation hedge—as many people believe-------then it’s extremely expensive at current levels. Erb and Harvey’s research suggests that gold’s fair value is about $ 825 an ounce. That would represent about a 25% decline from today’s price. But gold tends to move to extremes before reverting back to its fair value. Gold prices, like stock and bond prices, are influenced by excessive levels of investor optimism and pessimism. " Markets rarely trade at ’ fair value,’ rather they tend to overshoot," Erb said. Their research suggests gold could tumble to a-bout $ 350 an ounce before it goes back to fair values. Plunging that low would translate to an 80% crash from gold’s peak price in late 2011.
    Erb and Harvey’s research is not concrete. Even if they’re right that gold is overvalued, no one can say for sure when prices will correct. They could surge even higher before reversing course. In the past, the peak-to-trough cycle has lasted as long as 20 years. It’s a long-term view based on the following hypothesis: Gold prices are driven by inflation, just like stocks are driven mainly by corporate profits.
    That belief in gold as the ultimate store of value is why prices spiked after the Great Recession. Investors feared the Federal Reserve’s extremely low interest rates would unleash a wave of inflation and gold would protect them. Erb and Harvey argue that if gold maintains its purchasing power over time, it stands to reason that its fair value, or inflation-adjusted price, should be constant in the long run. The authors used historical prices and a common measure of inflation—the consumer price index—to determine where that fair value lies.
    Bob Alderman, head of wealth management at Gold Bullion International, called Erb and Harvey " smart guys with a theory," but said it’s important to remember that not long ago, some observers were calling for gold to hit $5,000. "Clearly, it didn’t go there," Alderman said.
    There are signs that the smart money may be moving closer towards Erb and Harvey’s view. Big Wall Street banks are slashing their gold price targets. Goldman Sachs(GS), one of the biggest cheerleaders of the commodities super cycle, recently predicted gold could tumble below $ 1,000 for the first time since 2009.
What is the main idea of this passage?
选项 A、Gold prices are very volatile.
B、Gold prices may drop further.
C、Gold is a perfect inflation hedge.
D、Predicting gold prices is very difficult.
答案B
解析 主旨题。开头就说出这个观点，最后又提到华尔街也有迹象表明这种趋势，故[B]为正确答案。[A]：“价格波动大”在文中确定提到了，但是这不是核心观点，故排除。[C]：是否是“完美”的，不得而知，故排除。[D]：预计金价非常困难，这是事实，但不是主旨；如果这是主旨，就会谈曾经的预计失误之类的东西，故排除。
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