Just let it be to the upside...

1414 GMT [Dow Jones] - Comex gold has been in a consolidation pattern of a little more than $100 over the last few weeks, says Ralph Preston, senior market analyst with Heritage West Financial. "From a technician's point of view, the longer it consolidates in this range, the more violent we would anticipate the breakout to be to whatever side of the range it breaks out," he says. If the market regains last week's highs, a key chart level to watch will be descending trendline through roughly $950, he adds. "If we can get a close above that descending trendline, that would be extremely bullish," he says. "Until then, we're consolidating, with the bears still threatening."