Analyst David Bailey for investment bank Goldman Sachs removed Apple from its buy list for the first time in more than two years on Monday. The move came after the analyst believed Apple was not poised to release any new products at Macworld Expo San Francisco in January thus causing a slowdown in consumer spending.

In the note to clients that analyst remained optimistic of Apple’s long term future due to the company’s ability to innovate.

“That said, the nearer-term outlook is less positive, as it now looks unlikely that Apple will launch a new product category at MacWorld in early January, taking away a potential catalyst for the shares and causing Apple to try to generate demand in a tough environment without the benefit of a new offering in the first part of 2009,” Bailey wrote on Monday.

Also in his note to clients Bailey note on “an upcoming touch-screen tablet” but said “it seems that this product is still in the development stage and will probably not be launched until the middle or back half of 2009.”

In addition the analyst has been conducting checks in Asia for the December quarter and despite Apple outperforming other PC and smartphone companies the analyst is concerned with weaknesses that are emerging.

“Specifically, shipments of MacBooks, iPod nanos, and iPhone were all slightly lower than what was expected going into the quarter and Apple should face a tougher environment in the March and June quarters as consumer demand takes another leg down,” he elaborated.

In his predictions for the December quarter Bailey pinned iPhone shipments at 5.5 million, around 1.4 million less than the September quarter. The analyst also made no prediction of iPod shipments instead saying “iPod nano shipments dropped off significantly after holding up through the middle of November” adding that the lower-end iPod touch is performing better than expected.

Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey downgraded Apple from Buy to Neutral in addition the analyst lowered his calendar year 2009 per-share earnings estimate to $4.75 from $5.13 and reduced his 12-month price target on the stock to $115 from $125.