Reckless Fed May Push Gold to $5,000

Peter Schiff, chief executive officer of Euro Pacific Capital, has been known to make forecasts outside the mainstream, and his long-running belief that gold has the potential to hit $5,000 an ounce is no exception. Prices, after all, are struggling to get a grip on $1,300.

We caught up with Schiff to ask him how gold, a big disappointment for commodities investors last year, gets back its groove. Last year, gold futures and heavyweight ETF SPDR Gold Trust lost 28%, breaking at least eight years of annual gains.

First off, Schiff’s gold forecast isn’t brand new. The author of “The Real Crash — America’s Coming Bankruptcy” has talked about the possibility of gold hitting $5,000 or higher since at least 2011, when prices for the metal topped $1,900 in intraday trading.

Schiff reiterated his call on the potential for $5,000 gold and beyond during a heated debate with Paul Krake of View from the Peak CNBC’son “Futures Now” episodeposted on April 15.

In an email interview with MarketWatch this week, he offered his thoughts on exactly why he expects gold prices to continue to climb and under what circumstances, what it would take to change his bullish outlook on gold and whether prices for the metal have already hit bottom this year.

- Source, MarketWatch