Silver Editorials & Commentary

Many investors who remain cautious on gold wonder whether they should get their precious metal exposure through silver instead. In response, Russ explains why the two metals aren’t interchangeable.

Buying silver or gold may seem easy enough for just about anyone these days, but unless you can completely block out the culture around you, the endeavor to make the monetary metals "fit in" with the rest of the hyper-financialized world seems futile.

Why are Indians Buying Silver? Cheaper silver prices usually mean less demand, or they can also be indicative of an oversupply situation.

Over the last month or so, Silver has been side-winding. This is extremely important to anyone who holds silver bullion as well as any of those thinking about current or new positions in this metal.

Human history is a depressing cycle of repetition. Societies/economies rise; societies/economies crumble. The patterns of these cycles are virtually identical, yet living through thousands of years of this “history”, we have learned nothing.

The NYSE Arca Gold BUGS (Basket of Unhedged Gold Stocks) Index (HUI) is a modified equal dollar weighted index of companies involved in gold mining.

In May 22 testimony to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke issued another of many similar positive interpretations of central bank policy.

Today the dollar broke through 80.40. This is a major development as it signals that the current daily cycle topped in only 2 days, thus confirming that the intermediate cycle has also topped.

Precious metals had a strong month in July. But while gold was up 5%, silver advanced only 1%. A more recent reading of the past 30 days through August 6th, shows gold up 4.9%, while silver is up only 3.3%.

By now everyone has a prediction about where the S&P 500 Index (SPX) is going to be heading in the future. Most of the sell side and their ilk are all rolling out the green bullish carpet and predicting that a major bull run is right around the corner.

Given that the demand for physical gold among private investors has remained strong throughout 2013, the significant price declines in recent months took many investors by surprise.

The largest silver producing country in the world has seen its production decline substantially in the first five months of the year.  Mexico was forecasted to increase its silver production this year, however if present trends continue, total output could fall...

After seeing stocks drop over 50% in both the 2000-2003 and 2007-2009 bear markets, investors are understandably hesitant to redeploy their hard-earned money back into stocks.

Silver closed the month at 19.790 unable to maintain the $20 price level. This month has been a battle between weak precious metals and craziness in the industrial metals markets with Chinese data lackluster and US data spotty we saws ups and downs all month but in...

The good news is most of the major indices closed at all-time or multi year highs on Friday. The negatives:

Silver is giving mixed signals. Short-term the white metal has recently given Buy-Signals. But longer-term silver prices are heading the 200 ema support. Provocatively, Large Specs are at the lowest levels in years.

The Rydex Cash Flow Ratio is one of the sentiment indicators we track, and currently it is showing that investors are unusually reluctant to commit money to the current rally.

The housing and automobile industries are the main driving forces of the economy - in both directions. That makes sense since consumer spending accounts for 70% of the economy, and homes and cars are the biggest ticket items consumers spend money on.

As a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information

Most observers know there have been interesting movements in commodity markets of late, much of which has to do with curious developments among some of the largest banks in the world that have been reported in the mainstream media.

One argument against silver's return to acknowledged monetary status has been that because much of the above ground silver has already been used up by industry, there simply is not enough supply to flow around in the economy, which is a primary requirement of a...

I know many of you are viewing the metals and thinking that we are exceptionally bullish, and a long lasting bottom is in place.  But, I am not anywhere near as confident.  Especially when I look at silver.

The good news is:  New lows remained insignificant in spite of a rough week.

The Negatives:  New highs have remained problematic on the NYSE.

Some truly awful economic results were released over the last week.  First and foremost, we discovered that 80% of the US adults struggle with joblessness, are near poverty, or have a reliance on welfare for at least part of their lives.

One of the largest issues many have with technical analysis is linking an understanding of their fundamental “beliefs” with prices on a chart.  By fundamental, we include simply the knowledge of any number of known factors, shortages, record buying of coins, people ...

Last week silver bullion and silver equities are on short-term buy signals. However, long term they remain on a sell signal, but prices are now approaching 200 ema support.

The general case for holding silver continues to improve as the MFGlobal and HSBC scandals confirm the absence of any rule of law or justice in the global financial system. The Peregrine Financial fiasco only serves to verify this somewhat jaded viewpoint.

The Antifragile Concept and Physical Precious Metals 

The concept of antifragility comes from Naseem Taleb's book Antifragile. In it, he describes things and processes that thrive on mistakes and volatility. 

For academics, the term "troubled currency" might be a term of art. But for people who are faced with such a currency, they know a troubled currency when they see one.

One of the main reasons why silver acts so sluggish relative to gold is a function of the gold/silver ratio, which shows that gold has been outperforming silver since March 2011-- and based on the enclosed chart, likely will continue to do so for a while longer, as...

Silver and silver equities are still basically in a bearish mode. Nonetheless Silver ETF (SLV) is on a short-term buy signal. However, long-term silver bullion is nearing i200 ema, which may provide support. Moreover, silver’s COT show Large Specs are at their...

The daily silver is similar to but not as strong as gold.  Still, evidence is growing to expect some sort of rally.  Until we see the how and the extent of any rally, there can be no change in the assessment that the trend remains down.

The gold and silver markets have fallen dramatically in the wake of the FOMC signaling an end to its controversial Quantitative Easing or QE programs.

Last week the price of the white metal climbed to an over two-week high after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman said its huge stimulus program would stay in place for some time. Investors are now focused on Ben Bernanke once again.

I have not written a public article in several months. This is mainly because I have been waiting for a buying opportunity to develop in precious metals.

During the recent weeks we have seen commodities especially precious metals continue to drop in value.

If there is only one thing to teach you about the upcoming silver bull market it is that 90% of the move comes in the last 10% of the time!

Do markets send messages?  Absolutely, and they are there for anyone and everyone to see as they develop.  Most people like to read news about increased demand for gold and silver, record purchases for silver eagles, etc, etc, etc.  The headlines over the past...

The decline in gold prices this year has been classically bearish. Each sharp drop is followed by a consolidation before another sharp drop, thus trapping buyers who have been trying to pick a bottom.