Bullish hopes for gold (-GC) were dashed Monday when Morgan Stanley chopped its estimate for gold prices for the fourth quarter by 13%.

And now, hopes for gold to hit $2,000 an ounce are quickly fading. Expectations were high that gold would hit that benchmark sometime this year, propelled by concerns about Europe's economy and the prospect of stimulus moves from central bankers.

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"We could easily see last September's record high being taken out," said Philip Klapwijk, global head of metals analytics at Thomson Reuters GFMS, according to the Telegraph. He was referring to a closing high of $1,900.23 on Sept. 5. From there, a leap to $2,000 wasn't hard to imagine.

But the strong dollar is hurting gold, reports The Wall Street Journal, as is the absence of a QE3. As a result, Morgan Stanley said gold won't average $2,011 an ounce -- as it previously forecast. Instead, gold may only reach $1,750.

Gold futures traded at around $1,614 Monday.

Investors have been down on the precious metal for months. The SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) has seen outflows for five weeks straight, Reuters reported. That's its longest streak of losses in about 18 months.

It may nearly be time for gold to turn around, according to some analysts. "A much bigger pool of investors, while starting to pay attention to gold again, are biding their time before getting long," analysts with UBS said in a note, according to Reuters. "Investors are playing the waiting game, looking for the signal to get back in."

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