this article is from the international herald tribune:

A more significant source of weakness, in the opinion of analysts and strategists, is forced selling of the metal by hedge fund managers. These investors travel in packs, piling into many of the same trades and using borrowed money to do it. Gold, other commodities and foreign currencies have been favorite investments of theirs, but with markets volatile and access to credit severely curtailed, the funds have had to reduce their exposure.

"What is dominating gold right now is not fundamentals but position liquidation," said Rebecca Patterson, global head of foreign exchange and commodities for J.P. Morgan Private Bank. "People who desperately need cash are selling whatever they can to get it. That's dwarfing buying interest."

There is still plenty of that, even if the wave of selling is greater. People who have cash - the wealthy private clients that use her bank's services - have shown "an incredible amount of buying interest in gold" during the past couple of months, she said.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/...