Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Silver is set to follow gold
With gold rallying 10% so far this year, some investors are starting to pay attention to silver.
With gold rallying 10% so far this year in dollar terms, some investors are starting to pay attention to "the yellow metal's sidekick", says Debbie Carlson for US News & World Report. Sometimes dubbed "poor man's gold" silver trades on about $16.50/oz, compared with $1,500/oz for gold silver prices are up 4.5% so far this year.
Demand from retail investors is a key catalyst for silver, adds Myra Saefong in Barron's. The World Silver Survey shows that "global investment in silver bars and coins grew 20% last year", yet supply is tight: 2018 also brought "a third consecutive annual decline in global production of the metal".
Yet unlike gold, which is used almost entirely as a store of wealth and in jewellery, the silver price is driven by both investment and industrial demand. And silver's rally this year has been depressed by concerns about the latter, says Capital Economics. But recent weeks have brought a wave of "safe-haven buying" that is likely to support the price for the rest of the year.
Try 6 free issues of MoneyWeek today
Get unparalleled financial insight, analysis and expert opinion you can profit from.
Sign up for MoneyWeek’s free twice-daily newsletter.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
In fact, with so many investors looking for safety, it is surprising that silver prices have "lagged so far behind" this year's gold rally, says Jon Sindreu in The Wall Street Journal. As of early July, the ratio of gold to silver stood at a 24-year high. History shows that on a one-year time horizon the two precious metals are closely correlated. That leaves plenty of scope for silver to follow gold higher.
Join more than 165,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Alex is an investment writer who has been contributing to MoneyWeek since 2015. He has been the magazine’s markets editor since 2019.
Alex has a passion for demystifying the often arcane world of finance for a general readership. While financial media tends to focus compulsively on the latest trend, the best opportunities can lie forgotten elsewhere.
He is especially interested in European equities – where his fluent French helps him to cover the continent’s largest bourse – and emerging markets, where his experience living in Beijing, and conversational Chinese, prove useful.
Hailing from Leeds, he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at the University of Oxford. He also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Manchester.
