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Posts Tagged ‘precious metals’

Silver at four-month high amid QE3 hopes

September 3, 2012 Comments off

Financial Times

Silver price

Silver prices touched their highest level in more than four months on Monday as the prospect of a fresh bout of quantitative easing from the US Federal Reserve rekindled interest in the precious metal.

Investors have largely shunned silver this year after being burnt by a year of wild price swings that saw it touch a 30-year high in April 2011 before plunging nearly 35 per cent in a fortnight.

But silver, whose primary use is industrial despite a recent surge in investor demand, has jumped 15.8 per cent in price in the past three weeks and on Monday peaked at $32.20 a troy ounce.

The gains have outpaced those of gold,

which has risen just 5.2 per cent over the same period.

The “mint ratio” between the two precious metals, a favorite trade of hedge funds and other investors, has moved 9 per cent in silver’s favour since mid-August – the first time silver has outperformed Read more…

Silver prices jump, playing catch-up to gold

February 29, 2012 1 comment

star-telegram.com

Silver prices shot up 4.5 percent Tuesday, playing catch-up to gold.
Silver is both a precious and an industrial metal. Traders can buy it to hedge against a volatile stock market, as they do with gold. But it can also be used to make products like computer chips, meaning prices can rise when traders expect demand from manufacturers to go up.
In March contracts, silver rose $1.616 to $37.14 per ounce. It’s up roughly 10 percent from where it was a year ago.
Sterling Smith, senior market analyst at Country Hedging in St. Paul, Minn., said part of the reason silver is surging is that traders believe it’s Read more…

Silver may continue to outperform others

February 22, 2012 Comments off

sify.com

Silver has displayed a smart rally in the current year so far, rising 21.2 per cent from January onwards. And, there are indications it would continue to outperform other metals like gold and copper. This would be good news for India’s largest silver producer, Hindustan Zinc, as the metal is likely to contribute 14-20 per cent to its Ebitda (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) margins.

Barclays Capital’s commodity outlook says: “The current profile of our price forecast suggests precious metals would be the strongest sector in 2012. We expect silver to reach $38 and rise even further in the third quarter of 2012, before profit booking sets in. At present, it is in a consolidation mode.”

Barclays says physical demand has been driving silver for the past few weeks.(Click here for graphs)

Following record gains in silver in late 2010 and early 2011, prices crashed towards $25. Since then, they have rebounded to $33-36. Currently, silver is facing strong Read more…

Key Players Buying More Gold Now

February 20, 2012 Comments off

wealthcycles.com

Investor appetite for gold is heating up, in part because of signals from hedge fund guru John Paulson, the guy who saw the real estate meltdown coming in 2007 and became a billionaire as a result.

The Paulson & Co. founder “told investors it’s time to buy the metal as protection against inflation caused by government spending,” Bloomberg reported today.

“By the time inflation becomes evident, gold will probably have moved, which implies that now is the time to build a position in gold,” New-York based Paulson said in a letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg. Armel Leslie, a spokesman for Paulson, declined to comment.

Bloomberg reported that 12 of 22 companies surveyed had a buy on gold, with five surveyed neutral.

Paulson & Co., the largest owner of the SPDR Gold Trust Exchange Traded Fund, which trades in gold futures, cut its position in 2011, Bloomberg reported earlier, probably to cover losses in securities.

Paulson held 17.3 million shares in the exchange-traded fund as of Dec. 31, 15 percent less than the 20.3 million on Sept. 30, Securities and Exchange Commission filings showed. His holdings fell 45 percent from end-June, the first reduction in more than two years. He is still the biggest stakeholder.

A Feb. 14 SEC filing showed Paulson & Co. with $2.9 billion worth of SPDR shares, according to Bloomberg’s latest report.

Meanwhile, central banks—even as they act to inflate Read more…

Gold and Silver Are Headed for Record Highs

February 1, 2012 1 comment

wealthdaily.com

Gold and silver are on fire.

The yellow metal is finishing up the month of January with a gain of more than 10%.

But silver is the star… It’s going to double the performance of gold for the month.

In fact, silver is up 21.5% in January!

To put that into perspective, silver’s January gain has outperformed the Dow’s 2011 performance. It also outperformed last year’s gains in the NASDAQ and S&P 500.

You might think that since these metals are up so much for the first month of the year, they’re ripe for a pullback. And that may be correct.

However, the charts of both gold and silver — but especially gold — are insanely bullish…

This is a weekly chart of gold going back nearly three years:

goldchart_jan31

As you can see clear as day, gold is forming an Read more…

Categories: GOLD, Silver Tags: , , ,

Bernanke Lights a Fire Under Gold and Silver Prices

January 26, 2012 2 comments

forexpros.com

“Party on!” was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s message to Wall Street yesterday, as he announced that the Fed will be keeping interest rates at “exceptionally low” levels until late 2014, owing to concerns about stubbornly-high unemployment and the sustainability of the current statistical recovery. Bernanke also confirmed that for the first time in the Fed’s 99-year history, the institution will explicitly target a 2% inflation rate, as measured on the Personal Consumption Index (PCI). Other central banks have long had explicit inflation targets, but not the Fed.

Unsurprisingly given their enthusiasm for easy money, the market response to this move was euphoric. The Dow gained 0.64% to settle at 12756.96, while the Nasdaq tacked on 1.14% to settle at 2818.31. Asian and European exchanges have also reported Read more…

Gold Seeker Weekly Wrap-Up: Gold and Silver Gain About 2% and 8% on the Week

January 20, 2012 Comments off

goldseek.com


 

Close

Gain/Loss

On Week

Gold

$1665.90

+$8.10

+1.70%

Silver

$32.08

+$1.54

+8.20%

XAU

187.02

-0.54%

-3.05%

HUI

501.57

-0.10%

-3.44%

GDM

1449.10

+0.05%

-3.39%

JSE Gold

2829.71

-55.47

-2.79%

USD

80.16

+0.04

-1.56%

Euro

129.37

-0.24

+2.03%

Yen

129.93

+0.24

-0.04%

Oil

$98.46

-$1.93

-0.24%

10-Year

2.028%

+0.056

+9.44%

Bond

141.875

-0.9375

-2.16%

Dow

12720.48

+0.76%

+2.40%

Nasdaq

2786.70

-0.06%

+2.80%

S&P

1315.38

+0.07%

+2.04%

 

“On Wednesday of this week, silver finally managed to get a CLOSE above strong chart resistance at the $30 level. The next day, while it was unable to advance much, it refused to back down below that resistance level and eked out another close above $30. Two consecutive closes above a strong chart resistance level and the bears had no choice but to begin running. Fresh money is now chasing them out as it appears that the hedge funds are beginning to move back into the grey metal after having fallen out of love with it in December of last year.

The technical chart picture is much improved with all momentum indicators now in a bullish mode on the Read more…

Categories: GOLD, Silver Tags: , ,

Silver to Explode Upward … Regretfully, Most Will Miss out on This Next Great Wave of Wealth Creation

January 18, 2012 Comments off

sacbee.com

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., Jan. 18, 2012  /PRNewswire/ — At Smith McKenna, precious metals trading advisors, Steve Smith, CEO, has been accurately forecasting gold, silver, copper and other precious metals commodities trends for decades. “The latest movements in spot prices in copper and silver were totally predictable, considering the time of year and the projected demands. 2012 will be a huge wealth creating opportunity, if you’re positioned correctly,” exclaims Steve.

“All leading manufacturing Data calls for an end to the GLOBAL SLOWDOWN and a boom in CAPITAL INVESTMENTS thru-out the word,” explains Stephen Smith. Further, “Global consumption will empty all above ground supplies of Silver within the next 36 to 48 months.” The secret, when realized, will take prices to the stratosphere. Smith McKenna is calling for Silver to hit $50 oz. 1st Qtr. 2012, $75 mid 2012, and $150 by year end.

The precious metals sage warns, “Don’t be fooled into buying gold or silver ETF’s, Certificates, and Mining Stocks. You must own the physical asset. But, Don’t buy anything until you have all the information! You Must First Have Accurate Investing Information and Know How to Use It to be a Successful Gold, Silver and Other Precious Metals Investor.”

Steve Smith so much believes that knowledge is the key to profitable investing, that he is giving away a FREE Book, to the first 100 people that just ask for it. Go to www.smithmckenna.com/free-book/, and simply fill out the request form. He also makes available, free of charge, his weekly investing calendar to the public on the Smith McKenna website.

In The First Few Days Of 2012, US Mint Sells More Silver Than In Most Months Of 2011

January 11, 2012 Comments off

zerohedge.com

In the first few days of 2012, the US mint has already sold 4.3 million ounces in silver coins. This is more than in all individual months of 2011 except for January and September, when the mint sold 6.4 million and 4.5 million ounces. Is the retail love affair with physical silver coming back with a vengeance?

2012:

2011: Read more…

Why Has Gold Been Down?

January 6, 2012 Comments off

caseyresearch.com

In spite of some short-term fixes, there remains no real resolution to the sovereign debt issues in many European countries. We’re certainly not spending less money in the US, and now we’re bailing out Europe via currency swaps with the European Central Bank. Shouldn’t gold be rising?

Yes, but nothing happens in a vacuum. There are some simple explanations as to why gold remains in a funk.

  1. The MF Global bankruptcy, the seventh-largest in US history, forced a high degree of liquidation of commodities futures contracts, including gold. Many institutional investors had to sell whether they wanted to or not. This is similar to why big declines in the stock market can force funds and other large investors to sell some gold to raise cash for margin calls or meet redemption requests.
  2. The dollar has been rising. Money fleeing the Eurozone has to go somewhere, and some of it is heading into Read more…