"People look at the outlook for commodities on a secular basis, and it's still pretty strong," Johnson said. "You could have near-term pullbacks from weak growth. You're at the high end of the recent range for most commodities. That has tempered a lot of people's enthusiasm."
Speculators reduced their gold net-long position by 2.1 percent to 233,256 futures and options contracts. That was the biggest decline since June 28. Prices touched a record $1,637.50 an ounce on the Comex in New York last week.