On Thursday, gold futures reached our longstanding 1244.2 “D” target and then reversed course just below the “D” target of an alternate version of the same pattern.  In yesterday’s tout we were looking for levels at which the gold market might begin a new downtrend, but alas, we did not mention this possibility, which is depicted in the attached graphic.  It is too early to say that 1246.0 is an important high, but it will look increasingly important if and when the price falls below the 1230.7, 1223.5, and 1211.7 levels.  1223.5 is a stick-down low along Tuesday’s “wall”, visible on the 15-minute chart.  Reasons for waiting to buy at lower levels or for (gasp) shorting gold are numerous: (1) the rally from 1159.3 has completed an elegant ABCD pattern; (2) current expectations of future quantitative easing might be “in the market” already and traders might sell the news of a low GDP number this morning; (3) the GDP number might be better than expected, triggering “risk-on” trades which do not include buying gold; (4) open interest in gold futures has reached a high level, which often foretells a price decline; (5) bullish seasonal forces might not quite be ready to kick in; (6) the stock market might crash soon, triggering margin calls and cash-raising measures such as selling gold; (7) the recent silver rally might have been driven by the big COMEX shorts, who have lightened up and are ready to do some new shorting now.  We could go on, but the fact is that the active Hidden Pivot patterns are almost exclusively bullish, so the best approach is to buy gold if the emerging short-term patterns look compelling enough.  We should clear our minds and let the charts tell us what’s going on, and what to do.  Yesterday we provided some upside targets that have not yet been reached, the first two being 1250.6 and 1258.7.  We don’t see any better ones tonight, so refer to that tout’s graphic for a look at the patterns.  (Posted by Doug McLagan)