Monday Open: $1,282.60
Weekly High: $1,287.40
Weekly Low: $1,186.30
Friday Close: $1,233.00

The gold market experienced major losses this last week of June as the yellow metal once again hit a 3-year low. A far cry from the predictions of $2,000 per ounce made last year, gold is weighing in around $1,200 this week.

Monday saw gold fall about $20 to $1,277 as Goldman Sachs downgraded predictions for future prices, setting a new bar of $1,030 for the end of the year. The more stable economic situation in the U.S. and global markets are accounting for the major price drop in gold. Last Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made the most explicit statement yet about pulling back on the quantitative easing program that has been in effect since 2008.

This zero-interest rate model has spurred gold to record levels in the past 5 years, as gold is non-taxed and often sought as a safe haven investment during times of economic turmoil, but now with an improving economy and lower unemployment rate, the end of these liberal economic measures is near. With the change in the economic landscape, traders are gravitating more towards higher returns elsewhere. Even the high demand for physical gold in India is not enough to put gold back at its previous high.

Gold has dropped 23% this quarter, losing about one quarter of its value since April. The yellow metal hit a fresh three-year low on Wednesday. Part of the dramatic pullback in the market is due to economic crises in China, commonly referred to as a “cash crunch,” which has drawn investors away from raw commodities.

The precious metal broke below the $1,200 barrier on Thursday for the first time since 2010. Analysts say that a continuing drop in gold should be expected. A professor of business at Duke University, Campbell Harvey, estimates the “fair value” of gold, or the average, to be about $800, which predicts even a ways to go before gold hits a plateau.

Friday marked the end of the second trading quarter of the year, with gold having dropped 30% since the beginning of 2013. The yellow metal is heavy in the news lately for the harsh beating it has taken since the “golden years” of 2011 and 2012, starting when gold hit a record high of $1,921 in September 2011, then continuing to remain in the upper reaches. Contrary to some hopeful analysts’ predictions, though, It never quite broke $2,000, and it is floundering at nearly half that now.