Market and product

Gold futures may rebound to $1,500 anounce in June after hitting a “double bottom” yesterday,according to technical analysis by R.J. O’Brien & Associates.

The price may climb 8.4 percent from yesterday’s settlementafter touching $1,336.30, a month after slumping to a two-yearlow of $1,321.50 on April 16, said Matthew Schilling, acommodity broker at R.J. O’Brien in Chicago. A double bottom isa chart pattern showing a drop, a rebound and then anotherdecline approaching the previous low, usually indicatingsupport.

“This shows that gold is probably ready to climb,”Schilling said in a telephone interview from Chicago. “Thereversal was proof that we have found a bottom.”

On April 15, gold plunged 9.3 percent, the most in 33years. A session earlier, the price slumped into a bear marketas some investors lost faith in the metal as a store of valueamid economic optimism, low inflation and a rally in equities.

Yesterday, gold futures for June delivery rose 1.4 percentto settle at $1,384.10 on the Comex in New York. The pricegained as much as 2.4 percent after slumping 2.1 percent.Holdings in exchange-traded products backed by gold surged by$1.7 billion in 10 minutes as futures rallied.

Yesterday, assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest ETP,fell 0.7 percent to 1,031.5 metric tons, extending a slump tothe lowest since 2009. Gold futures have dropped 17 percent in2013. The price climbed in the previous 12 years.

In technical analysis, investors and analysts study chartsof trading patterns and prices to predict changes in a security,commodity, currency or index.