Silver’s performance
Compared to gold, silver is the more volatile precious metal. The overall sentiment in the market for silver is positive, as it recently crossed the 50-day, 100-day, and 200-day moving averages.
Silver has performed slightly better than gold and platinum on a year-to-date basis. Silver had a year-to-date gain of 8.8%, while gold and platinum have risen 7% and 7.4%, respectively, as of March 20. Palladium, however, has outperformed the other three metals with a rise of 14.7% during the same timeframe.
These Factors Have Been Driving Silver Prices
Precious and industrial metals
The fluctuations in the price of silver since 2015 are shown in the above chart. As silver is considered both an industrial as well as a precious metal, the rises and falls in its price are dependent on many global indicators.
When Brexit concerns surfaced in mid-2016, the haven bids caused silver to rise. Similarly, after Trump won the US election, the haven bids impacted the metal. The increase in the interest rate on Treasuries caused non-yield-bearing assets like gold and silver to suffer. In a similar fashion, the overall industrial market performance can also impact silver, as silver is frequently used as an industrial metal.
Silver funds and miners
The fluctuations in silver prices are evident in the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) and the Silver Trust ETF (SIVR). These two funds have risen 9.2% each due to the rise in silver prices.
Silver mining stocks like Hecla Mining (HL), Coeur Mining (CDE), Pan American Silver (PAAS), and Silver Wheaton (SLW) have fallen over the past month due to the fall in silver prices.
Later in this series, we’ll look at the performance of silver miners along with technical details.
For her school’s final-year project, she decided to make a mundane everyday thing interesting and attractive.
So Miss Priyageetha Dia, 25, turned the staircase on the 20th storey of her Housing Board block at Jalan Rajah in Balestier from grey to gold.
She covered the grey staircase with gold foil and pictures of it started circulating online on Monday.
On Tuesday, the final-year fine arts student at Lasalle College of the Arts revealed on Facebook that she was the person behind it.
Speaking to The New Paper at the staircase yesterday, Miss Priyageetha admitted she was apprehensive over the possible consequences for what she did.
“I was uncertain of the regulations, but I wanted to be spontaneous,” she said, adding that she had consulted her lecturers before going through with it.
Miss Priyageetha came up with the idea a month ago and executed it on Sunday, spending five hours using adhesive to cover the staircase in gold foil.
She said: “My practice involves dealing with space, and it prompted me to move away from my household and into public spaces.
“I used gold because my family has a history with goldsmiths, and I thought, why not use the material to invigorate the space?”
(Kitco News) – Although markets are expecting the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates three times this year, starting as early as March, one research firm says there are three factors converging together to create the perfect storm for the gold market.
Crossborder Capital sees three factors that could push gold up 10% or 15% higher
Michael Howell, managing director a Crossborder Capital
Michael Howell, managing director at Crossborder Capital, said in an interview with Kitco News that even after gold’s strong performance at the start of the year, he still sees value in the yellow metal as the Federal Reserve remains behind the inflation curve, the U.S. dollar weakens and global central banks — in particular the People’s Bank of China — continue to pump liquidity into financial markets.
While not having a specific price target, Howell said that he could see gold prices 10% to 15% higher in the medium term.
The Federal Reserve’s March monetary policy meeting is garnering a lot of attention in the gold market due to rising expectations that the Fed will raise rates. However, Howell said the data is not totally conclusive that the U.S. will see strong growth in 2017 and that could continue to force the central bank to remain on the sidelines.
He added that even if the Fed does raise interest rates, the key for gold will be the fact that real rates are expected to remain low because of higher inflation.
“The Fed is not likely to be ahead of the inflation curve,” he said. “I think the Fed has an unofficial policy to keep real rates low to promote growth and that will be positive for gold.”
While gold prices have dropped recently — last trading at $1,233.30 an ounce — the yellow metal is still up 7% since the start of the week.
Feeding into higher inflation is the fact that Crossborder Capital expects to see weakness in the U.S. dollar as liquidity dries up because China and Europe are starting to see capital flow back into their markets.
Howell explained that China, which a few years ago relaxed its capital controls, has had the biggest impact on U.S. dollar strength. However, to support its currency, the government is now once again strengthening its capital controls and more money is staying within the country.
Howell added that optimism is starting to build around the European economy again and investment dollars are moving into those undervalued markets.
“The trend that we are seeing in capital flows, there is no guarantee that the U.S. dollar will hold onto its strength. A weaker U.S. dollar is positive for the entire commodity complex and in particular for gold.”
Finally, not only is more money staying in China but the People’s Bank of China has started the printing presses in an effort to promote economic growth.
“If you have a growth machine driven by the People’s Bank of China then that is not a bad recipe for gold prices to move higher,” he said.
By Neils Christensen
The global war on cash continues. The cabal of bankers seeking more transaction fees, busybody political leaders, and central bankers who want to experiment with negative interest rates recently threw India into turmoil by eliminating the two largest denomination bank notes.
Learn How to Exploit the Gold Frenzy!
Now they are preparing a similar assault on Europeans’ ability to transact privately and without giving bankers a cut. European Union officials just published a “Proposal for an EU Initiative on Restriction on Payments in Cash.”
Predictably, the restrictions are being sold to citizens as a means of fighting terrorism – much like a host of other privacy and liberty-destroying power grabs in recent decades. This despite a telling admission contained in the proposal: “There remains the lack of readily available and solid evidence on legitimate versus illegitimate cash transactions.” Ban the use of cash first, ask questions later.
Officials may, however, come to regret the timing of their proposal. Many European citizens will have trouble reconciling why leaders are willing to clamp down severely on cash, but not on the flood of refugees pouring in from the Middle East. Can they really be serious about terrorism?
Learn How to Exploit the Gold Frenzy!
Anti-EU movements are surging across the continent, with important elections coming this year in both France and Germany. Anger and frustration is already threatening to tear the EU apart. Now EU officials are floating another measure that promises to be controversial.
In Germany, 79% of transactions are done in cash. Many there aren’t going to take restrictions lying down. Some see the war on cash for what it is – bureaucrats using the lever of fear to once again ratchet up controls and restrict privacy.
The EU bureaucrats may just see the day when citizens stop using paper euros to make payments, but not because of the restrictions they hope to impose. It could instead be the result of the EU and its common currency being dumped.
A European setback for the bankers and politicians behind the move to de-monetize cash would be good news for bullion investors everywhere, including the U.S. Attempts to regulate the trade of physical gold and silver will not be far behind any restrictions on cash. Precious metals are an obvious target because they are a premier form of private, off-the-grid, and portable wealth.
With these draconian proposals gaining momentum across the globe, you can bet we will continue to follow the war on cash carefully.
Intricate jewellery found buried in a Staffordshire field is the earliest example of Iron Age gold ever found in Britain.
The collection, made up of four twisted metal neckbands, called torcs and a bracelet, was discovered by two metal detectorists just before Christmas.
Experts say they would have been owned by wealthy powerful women who probably moved from continental Europe to marry rich Iron Age chiefs.
The pair who discovered the find had swept the field 20 years earlier and uncovered nothing. But after abandoning a fishing trip to go treasure hunting they came across the horde, which could be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
The torcs were buried nested together and archaeologists believe they may have been buried for safekeeping, or as an offering to a God, or an act of remembrance for someone who had died.
The collection of gold jewellery found in Staffordshire
The latest discovery which was found about 45 miles north of Hammerwich, near Lichfield – the site the 2009 Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard find, which was officially valued at £3.2 million.
That seventh century find, which dates back to the Kingdom of Mercia, is made up of 3,900 pieces of precious metal, currently on display in UK museums.
Unveiling the new torcs at a press conference on Tuesday experts said the unique find could date back as far as 400BC and was of hugely significant and could reveal new details about the movement of Iron Age communities.
“This unique find is of international importance,” said Dr Julia Farley, Curator of British & European Iron Age Collections for the British Museum.
“It dates to around 400–250 BC, and is probably the earliest Iron Age gold work ever discovered in Britain.
“The torcs were probably worn by wealthy and powerful women, perhaps people from the continent who had married into the local community.
“Piecing together how these objects came to be carefully buried in a Staffordshire field will give us an invaluable insight into life in Iron Age Britain.”
Mark Hambleton and Joe Kania.
Mark Hambleton and Joe Kania.
The find was made by friends Mark Hambleton and Joe Kania.
“We weren’t expecting to find anything. I was just about ready to give up for the day when Joe said he thought he had found something,” said Mr Hambleton. “We both looked at it and were speechless.”
After searching around the area they found the three remaining torcs.
Mr Kania added: “We have found the odd Victorian coin, but mostly it has just been junk. So I couldn’t believe it when I picked out this mud covered item and on cleaning it off, I thought this might actually be gold.”
The pair contacted the landowners and Mr Hambleton was forced to sleep with the finds by the side of his bed before he could take the pieces to show Teresa Gilmore, a finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme at Birmingham
“I kept the gold right next to my bed to make sure it was safe until we could hand them in to the experts,” he added.
“I used to go metal detecting with my dad when I was young and he said to me “why are you bothering fishing? You should be back in those fields.
“I am so glad we took his advice and pleased of course that he got the chance to see these amazing pieces and prove he was right all along.”
An expert studies the Leekfrith Iron Age Torcs
An expert studies the Leekfrith Iron Age Torcs
The pair had been given permission to search the land by owners, the Heath’s, and if the find is declared treasure it will be sold and split with the family.
Stuart Heath, who farms 640 acres of land in the Moorlands, said: “Mark has detected on our land before and it is amazing to think these gold pieces have been lying undiscovered since long before we farmed here”.
“Archaeologists have surveyed the site and all though this is very much a one- off find, we will all be fascinated to hear more about how the collection found its way from Europe to Staffordshire thousands of years ago.”