Last Tuesday, Wall Street’s biggest and most influential investment banking firm shocked the financial community.

Goldman Sachs told its clients to sell gold. The firm lowered its 12-month price target for the metal from $1,940 to $1,800 per ounce.

The news sent gold bugs scurrying for cover as gold sold off more than $20 on the day.

Folks who don’t like gold – or who are looking for signs that gold’s 12-year bull market is ending – can say, “See… even Goldman says it’s over.”

[ad#Google Adsense 336×280-IA]Cynics can argue that the only reason Goldman says “sell” is because it wants to buy the metal for itself at a lower price.

In my view, this news is a gift…

Anyone looking for a chance to buy gold at a cheaper price has to look at Goldman Sachs’ announcement as an early Christmas present.

The “smart money” certainly is…

We last looked at the action of the gold commercial traders – the “smart money” – back in October.

Then, gold was trading for $1,785 per ounce. And the commercial traders were net short more than 300,000 gold futures contracts.

That’s a BIG short position. And it’s typical of what we’ve seen in the past from the smart money near short-term highs in the gold market.

But last week, the “smart money” was buying. Commercial traders took advantage of the Goldman Sachs-inspired selloff and reduced their net short position to 215,000 contracts.

That’s still a relatively large short position. But the number only reflects the data available as of last Tuesday’s close. Odds are good the traders reduced their net short position even further toward the end of last week. We’ll know more when the next Commitment of Traders Report comes out this Friday.

Here’s the important thing…

As Goldman Sachs told its clients to sell… the “smart money” used that weakness to buy.

We can’t yet rule out a little more downside action in gold. After all, short-term bottoms in the gold market usually happen when the commercial traders’ net short positions drop below 150,000 contracts.

But the smart money’s willingness to buy last week is a good sign the bottom is close.

Three months ago, I wrote that $1,675 looked like a good place to buy gold. If we get a move near that level this week, consider it a gift.

Be willing to buy.

Best regards and good trading,

Jeff Clark

[ad#stansberry-ps]

Source: The Growth Stock Wire