Gold and silver hit new highs – but gold is a safer bet for now

Gold has made more steady gains recently, but the notoriously volatile silver has rocketed, gaining almost 25% in a month. But that is making a lot of investors nervous.

Another week, another high in gold and silver. Gold has set a new all-time peak around $1,520 an ounce and silver has almost matched its 1980 peak of $50 an ounce.

While gold has made steady gains, the notoriously volatile 'poor man's gold', has rocketed, gaining almost 25% in a month. The silver market is far smaller than gold's and thus tends to magnify gold's moves up and down. The latest burst has been fuelled by the weakening dollar, which in trade-weighted terms is back down to August 2008 levels. The greenback has been under pressure after Standard & Poor's signalled that it might downgrade US debt.

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