WHY SILVER IS UNDERVALUED RELATIVE TO GOLD
John Stephenson, author of the “The Little Book of Commodity Investing” postulates that since silver is about 16 times more prevalent than gold in the earth’s crust, and that the two metals are quite similar, the gap in their prices should be more like 16:1, rather than the current 40:1. “For my money, the trade of the decade will be silver” said Stephenson.
Both equity and precious metals markets were choppy today, as profit takers moved in on a day of no big news. Gold finished down Monday while silver had a positive finish. The news of the day has a bit of a repetitive feel to it. Analysts at MS Futures said in a note to clients Monday, “lack of significant fresh developments from current geopolitical issues has resulted in some anxiety draining out of markets like gold”. On the other side of that discussion is the fact that the geopolitical tensions that routinely show up in the news aren’t going away which indicate future safe haven buying for gold.
An interesting statistic to note is that U.S. consumer spending increased 0.7 percent in February, a higher increase than expected. Although this is positive news, it has a dark cloud; more than half that gain in spending is reflected in higher prices. Also noted is that consumers had to dip into or cut back on savings to cover higher living costs. With these indicators one can only wonder how much inflation will continue to affect spending habits of consumers.
At 4PM (CT) the APMEX precious metal prices were:
- Gold price - $1,421.90 (off $5.30)
- Silver price - $37.21 (up 10 cents)
- Platinum price - $1,742.90 (off $4.70)
- Palladium price - $746.00 (off $5.40)
For Silver lovers who are looking for the 2011 Early Release Silver American Eagles, they are just in!