I'm not inquiring anything. Someone above asked how much was going to be accumulated by Barclay's. I just posted the blurb I saw.
Jim Cook lists some of silverâs modern uses, many of which are infinitesimal in amounts per unit, but multiplied by many millions of units, itâs a lot of silver. This has largely accounted for the draw-down of inventories. * * * * * Both rechargeable and disposable batteries are manufactured with silver alloys. Billions of silver oxide-zinc batteries are supplied to the worldâs market yearly, including miniature-sized batteries for watches, cameras and small electronic devices, and larger batteries for tools and TV cameras. Steel bearings are electroplated with high-purity silver because silver-coated bearings provide superior performance and safety for jet engines. Silver solder facilitates the joining of materials. Silver-brazing alloys are used in air conditioning, refrigeration, power distribution, automobiles and airplanes. Silver is of first importance to plumbers, appliance manufacturers, and electronics. Chemical reactions use silver as a catalyst; approximately 700 tons of silver are in continuous use for the production of plastics. Silver is essential for producing a class of plastics which includes adhesives, plastics, laminated resins for construction, plywood, particle board finishes, paper and electronic equipment, textiles, surface coating, dinner ware, buttons, casings for appliances, handles and knobs, packaging materials, automotive parts, terminal and electrical insulation materials. Silver is necessary for producing soft plastics used in polyester textiles. It is used for molded items for insulating-handles for stoves, and for computers, electrical control knobs and Mylar tape (which makes up 100% of audio, VCR and other types of recording tapes). It is also used to produce antifreeze. Silver is used in commemorative and proof coins around the world. There is wide silver use in silverware, jewelry and the decorative arts. Silver is the best electrical conductor of all metals and is used in contacts and fuses and ordinary household wall switches. The use of silver for motor controls is universal in the home. All of the electrical appliances, timers, thermostats, and some pumps, use silver contacts. A typical washing machine requires 16 silver contacts. A fully-equipped automobile may have over 40 silver-tipped switches. Silver relays are used in washing machines, dryers, automobile accessories, vacuum cleaners, electric drills, elevators, escalators, machine tools, locomotives, marine diesel engines and oil drilling motors. It is also used for circuit breakers. It is widely used in electronics, membrane switches, electrically heated automobile windows and conductive adhesives. Every time you turn on a microwave oven, a dishwasher, clothes washer or TV set, you have activated a switch with silver contacts. The majority of computers use silver-membrane switches. They are used for cable television, telephones, microwave ovens, learning toys and keyboards of typewriters and computers. The silver contact membranes which are marketed in the U.S. are a billion-dollar industry. Silver is used in prepaid-toll gizmos. Radio-frequency identification devices will soon make an appearance imbedded in credit cards and passports. Silver is used in circuit boards and is essential to electronics to control the operation of aircraft, car engines, electrical appliances, security systems, tele-communication networks, mobile telephones and TV receivers. They use silver in windshields in General Motors all-purpose vehicles because it reflects some 70% of the solar energy. Every automobile produced in America has a silver ceramic line in the rear window to clear the frost and ice. Silver plating is used in Christmas tree ornaments, cutlery and hollow ware. Because it is virtually 100%-reflective after polishing, it is used in mirrors and coating for glass, cellophane and metals. A silver transparent coating of silver is used on double-paned thermal windows. Silver has a variety of uses in pharmaceuticals. Silver sulfadiazine is the most powerful compound for burn treatment worldwide. Catheters impregnated with silver diazine eliminate bacteria. Itâs increasingly being tapped for its bactericidal properties from sev
Which is all fascinating, but of little quantitative value, right? If they're going to need 1.5M oz to start trading, that's just 300 of the big contracts, or 0.3% of the current O/I in the front month. Can anyone compare these numbers to the start of the gold ETF? On the chart, I don't see any obvious spikes, but then again, gold was pretty much on a ramp, and I can't find the specific dates of the approvals, etc. Anyone got that?
Again, being new to the silver game, I don't know too much about it relatively speaking. But I use this page for technicals (too lazy to do them on my own - forex takes more time). http://www.technicalindicators.com/silver.htm Shows some supply/demand numbers, but stops short of 2005.
Are there any books that tell the story of the Hunt Brothers cornering the silver market in the 80's? Thanks.
CPM - The U.S. Seurities and Exchange Commission approved the American Stock Exchange's proposal to list iShares Silver Trust shares, to be issued by Barclays Global Investors. The ruling was dated 20 March and was released on the morning of 21 March. The silver market reacted by rising 20.3 cents to $10.565 in afternoon trading. Prices rose a few more cents in Wednesday morning trading. When the SEC posted the Amex proposal in the Federal Register on 23 January 2006, opening the period for public comment, the price of silver was $9.073. The opinion of these reports was that an approval could push silver to $10.50 or $11.50, at least on a short-term basis on the news, while a rejection could have put silver back to $7.50. In the intervening weeks silver prices rose to around $10.50, largely on speculative anticipation that the silver ETF would be approved. Thus, the price had achieved its near-term target by the time the news was out. Barclays now must submit a Registration Statement to the SEC for approval, before the Silver Shares, as it will be called in the market, can start trading. Such a document ought to be ready for submission. Approval could take a couple of days or a matter of months. Typically in such a situation the document is prepared for submission, and approval can come quickly. The market is seeking to assess the short and long term implications for silver prices with the arrival of the Silver Shares. The law of unintended consequences suggests caution be applied to such analyses. Several points can be made considering what the Silver Shares mean to the market. They represent a way for investors to buy silver. As such, they could be thought of as creating a new form of demand for silver, a sub-segment of investment demand. The gold ETFs that have been launched progressively around the world have seen an influx of new investors who formerly did not invest in gold. That may be the case for silver, but to a far lesser extent. Silver is not so much a mainstream investment product or asset, as is gold. There are a lot of investors who like to buy silver. This is true. Many are deeply suspicious of financial institutions, however, and may avoid the silver ETF, preferring physical control over their silver. Some institutional investors are likely to buy into the silver ETF, however, and that alone should increase demand for physical silver measurably. (The silver ETF will be backed by physical silver held in allocated accounts.) How much silver will be purchased via the ETF is anyone's guess. The gold ETFs have attracted around 15.5 million ounces of gold, roughly three times what most observers had expected them to attract. They came out in 2003 and 2004, however, at a good time in the current bull market for precious metals. The Silver Shares will be coming to market at a time when silver prices already have roughly doubled over the past few years. That may limit the interest in them, along with the more exotic nature of silver for some institutional money managers. The proposal for the Silver Shares suggests an initial inventory of at least 1.5 million ounces backing the shares. That is very little. In reality, the demand for these shares may take 30 million ounces or more. No one can know exactly what the demand level could be. There will continue to be some speculative buying of silver between now and the actual launch of the ETF. Once the ETF is launched the market will be better able to assess the level of demand, and the sustainability of demand, for silver investing via the ETF. The proposal used a figure of 130 million ounces, but that was just an indicative figure. It is possible that the demand for silver for allocation against the Silver Shares may be significant enough to drive silver prices sharply higher on a sustained basis. It also is possible that the silver ETF may prove to be of relatively less significance to the price of silver.
$104 a share for SLV @ current price.... I wonder what the spread will be? arbs licking their chops...............