At least some investors believe gold prices will rebound.

Bullish gold positions held by hedge funds and other speculators recently reached a seven-week high, reports The Wall Street Journal, citing information from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Gold prices plunged the most in 32 years last year, taking the shine off the metal for many investors. But others see opportunity in gold's drop.

Editor’s Note: 18.79% Annual Returns . . . for Life?

Hedge funds like San Francisco-based Passport Capital are scooping up gold, the Journal reports. "If Indian buyers come back and Chinese buying keeps growing, sentiment could change," John Burbank of Passport told the Journal.

Vermilion Asset Management LLC plans to open its first fund dedicated to gold and other metals, the Journal reports.

Some gold bulls never lost faith in the metal. John Brynjolfsson of the Armored Wolf hedge fund told the Journal that gold will still "provide good insurance against crisis, higher taxes and inflation risks."

Fifty-seven percent of the respondents (16 out of 28) in the latest CNBC survey of bullion market sentiment expect gold prices to increase this week, while 32 percent (9 out of 28) think prices will fall, 11 percent (3 out of 28) predict prices will remain the same.

An unexpectedly weak December jobs report is a major factor for optimism about gold. The economy created just 74,000 new jobs during the month, barely a third of the 200,000 economists expected, and the labor participation rate is lower than it's been in over 30 years.

The poor jobs report could mean the economy is not recovering as well as markets think and that the Federal Reserve will have to maintain its bond-purchasing stimulus.

Gold, Lear Capital CEO Scott Carter told CNBC, "will perform well in this environment."

The jobs figures, he said, were a "huge miss" that will bring tapering to a halt, and low labor participation rates will give incoming Fed Chairman Janet Yellen "all the ammo she needs to keep the printing presses going in 2014."

Others are short-term gold bulls.

"Gold prices could rise modestly," said Edmund Moy, chief strategist at Morgan Gold and a former director of the U.S. Mint, according to CNBC. "A weak labor market and dwindling gold supply due to miners reducing capacity support a bullish outlook this week."

Editor’s Note: 18.79% Annual Returns . . . for Life?

Related Articles:

• Nuveen's Doll, Goldman's Currie: Gold Will Resume Decline
• Rickards: Gold Could Ultimately Surpass $9,000 an Ounce