Gold is up $64 to $844 as of 12:15 PM EST. I could end this post here and that one sentence could be the entire story.

However, like a good infomercial, “there is more!”. Specifically, Bloomberg is running a story that gold may hit $950 by the end of the year “as central banks and miners hold back sales and investors buy the metal as a haven against falling stock prices.”

The good news for gold bugs is that a $950 price isn’t tethered to simply a shaky stock market. Otherwise, a market turnaround on its own could quell the gold rush.

Rather, London-based researcher GFMS Ltd. states that Central Bank sales will drop 46 percent in 2008, while mine supply will decline for a third year. Specifically, with respect to mine supply, global mine production will drop 2.3 percent this year to 2,422 tons, the lowest since 1996 That is going to put great pressure on an already string tight supply issue.

Moreover, GFMS believes demand from investors worldwide will soar 38 percent to 778 metric tons, with purchases in east Asia more than doubling.

GRANDICH HITS THE NAIL ON THE HEAD AGAIN

If I didn’t know any better, I would think that Peter Grandich single-handedly sets the price of gold. For about the zillionth time over the last 3 years, Grandich once again pegged an overextended gold price (oversold or overbought) when he made this statement just 5days ago in his newsletter: