Interesting comments about silver...... I never associated silver being used in solar panels. I wonder if there is a single source that illustrates how much silver and gold is produced, where, how it is consumed as a percentage....and how much is in storage.... It would require a fair amount of time to consolidate unless you were an insider. Anyhow....... Silver prices are up 49 percent already this year. But there are good reasons to think they could go even higher – and that they could stay high. Mined silver is normally a byproduct of other mined commodities like lead-zinc, copper, gold, and copper-nickel. Global silver mine production averages around 671 million ounces per year. Silver demand has exceeded supply for the past 10 years. This year should be no different – and may be higher than normal. Commodities researcher CPM projects that silver output from mines will drop 2.4 percent in 2016. That’s the first time in over a decade that silver production will fall. Meanwhile, CPM forecasts “fabrication” demand – that is, what industrial companies will need to build solar panels, electronics, jewelry, as well as coins – will rise by 1.6 percent in 2016. Unlike gold, silver is an important metal for industrial use. More than half of mined silver is used for industrial purposes: solar panels, electronics, photography, water purification, and more. Its industrial usage is what contributes to a constant demand for silver. more below.....complete with pretty charts ! http://www.businessinsider.com/the-surprising-reason-that-silver-prices-are-on-their-way-up-2016-7
Without having the facts to back it up, I think that silver will rise faster as a percentage than gold. It's used in more applications than silver. But gold is considered a safe haven. Silver is too, but gold is more attractive. I guess it has more snob appeal to bankers and if you have to transfer it internationally it would be much easier to do. Maybe our athletes will win lots of medals in RIO and bring them back to help with our trade deificit.
I've always believed that silver follows gold during a CRISIS event, unless that event is high inflation...then silver outperforms. Like you said, percentage wise it should outperform since it has such a lower price compared to gold.
I actually bought a decent amount of the SLV ETF in my 401k last week as I've been thinking long term it's got potential. I'd rather buy it than gold at least
This is not directly related to silver, it's an article on gold. But they are intertwined. It's a brief article about China, Russia and other nations slowly accumulating gold reserves to establish a new currency and hedging against instability. ---- The good news for gold enthusiasts is that China and Russia, the world’s No. 1 and No. 3 producers, are catching up to the big industrial countries in stocks of bullion in their official reserves. The bad news is that, on present “steady-as-she goes” monthly gold accruals, it will take China and Russia — No. 6 and 7 in the world ranking of global gold reserves — about six years to draw level with the fourth- and fifth-placed countries, France and Italy. Beijing and Moscow are building up gold stocks for a variety of reasons, ranging from unease about undue dependence on the dollar BUXX, -0.76% — particularly acute in Russia’s case, in view of U.S.-led sanctions over the invasion of Crimea — to distaste at the low or negative returns on Europe currency holdings, especially the euro EURUSD, +0.5464% . “Gold has become increasingly attractive as an alternative to reserve currencies, with the euro, yen USDJPY, -1.47% Swiss franc USDCHF, -0.4131% all weakening against the dollar in 2015, while emerging-market economies have also been keen to diversify away from U.S. assets. Around $10 trillion of sovereign debt is negative yielding as of June 2016, raising challenges for investors and creating risks of market upsets when interest-rate policies change. Deflationary pressures across many advanced and developing economies raise the importance of gold as a store of value and a hedge against financial market instability.” ----- more... http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-china-and-russia-are-buying-so-much-gold-2016-08-01
Good article. I read something recently about gold being held down in price artificially to give China "time" to accumulate more reserves. Apparently, this is in the U.S. best interest...as well as the rest of the world.
I think it has a broader appeal to a wider audience. People may not buy an ounce of gold at $1350 an ounce, but they can buy an ounce of silver at $20 and ounce and feel like a baller.
How fantastic would it be, if it turns out that the real value of precious metals isn't in the crazy stuff like human psychology of things like inflation hedges, or looks shiny on my finger, but instead some future technology needs to make heave use of these metals, in far far larger quantities than they are used today for technological needs we can't even imagine yet. I think this is likely to happen, that one day gold will be absolutely critical to some technology we have not imagined yet. Of course, you can't trade it that way today, but still fun to think about.