Silver Loses Its Mettle

SILVER LOSES ITS METTLE

Actually, it is silver investors who might be losing their mettle. Coping well in the face of a fourteen percent decline in the vaunted white metal must be very difficult.

The size of that decline happens to be right in line with the major stock market indices, all of which (Dow, S&P, Nasdaq) lost similar percentage amounts this past week. No better, no worse for silver; but it is ironic.

We have been told over and over that silver is a hedge against that type of stock market action.  Also, we’ve been told that silver would be more explosive that its well-respected brother, gold. It was – sort of. The correct word is implosive.  

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$100 Silver Has Come And Gone

$100 SILVER…

In January 1980, the price of silver peaked at just under $50.00 per ounce. From its low in October 1971 at $1.27, silver had risen thirty-nine fold in little more than eight years.

There was talk about higher silver prices, as much as $100.00 per ounce and more. Yet, only a few months later, silver was down to $10.00 per ounce. That amounted to a decline of nearly eighty percent from its peak.

Silver bulls were not deterred, however. They continued to stress the “fundamentals” which would lead to higher silver prices, but their dreams turned into nightmares. The price of silver continued to fall.

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Silver Is Cheap – And Getting Cheaper

Silver is definitely cheap. By almost any standard of measurement, the price of silver is cheap. It is cheap relative to gold, it is cheap compared to its recent peak in 2011, and it is cheap historically. For some, that apparently means that silver is a bargain, too. I’m not so sure.

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Prospecting For Silver During Recessions

PROSPECTING FOR SILVER

I am continually amazed at how every turn in the numbers and the economy seems to present new information that is bullish for gold and silver. The train of logic becomes downright laughable at times.

Other than entertaining in a perverse sort of way, the various proclamations and conclusions end up sooner or later in confliction with each other.

One of the more glaring examples involves buying gold and silver because of the possibility of a recession. Why?

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Silver’s Next Big Move

SILVER’S NEXT BIG MOVE…

Eight years ago this month, silver started its “next big move”.  And that move continues today. It is awesome to behold. See the chart (ten-year history of silver prices) below…

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Silver Fails Miserably To Meet Expectations

No matter how harsh it sounds, it is true. Unfortunately, too many people don’t want to hear it and refuse to listen.

Acknowledgement of the facts doesn’t seem to deter its supporters. We are told that silver’s ongoing underperformance relative to gold makes it “a better buy” with “more profit potential”.

Let’s see what the charts say. 

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Gold Nuggets And Silver Bullets

It is very difficult to let go of someone – or something – when we have invested so much time and energy in it. It is even harder when we have invested so much of ourselves in it; when the outcome is not what we expected; when our reputation is at stake.

In this particular case, that something is gold and silver.

The emotional proclamations just a few weeks ago seemed quite strong, almost being religious in their fervor. But after two thrusts of the dagger to the heart, the explanations afterwards seem a bit hollow. 

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No Silver Lining Here

NO SILVER LINING

As bad as the prognosticators can be with their predictions for the price of gold, the situation for silver is even worse.

Some very recent headlines trumpeted the following proclamations:

“Silver prices to surge…”

“Silver…Why Prices Will Soar”

“Why You Must Own Silver…”

But my favorite headline expresses all of the emotion and confusion regarding silver quite aptly: “What Is Wrong With Silver?”

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Implosive Silver Vulnerable To Big Price Drop

IMPLOSIVE SILVER

Admittedly, it must sound encouraging, and even exciting, to hear proclamations that a “silver” lining is now apparent in the metals complex. Or that a silver “blast-off (is) about to happen”.

Expectations abound for the long-expected, vertical leap in silver prices that never seems to come. And we are told it is supported by solid fundamentals that include supply deficits, a return to the 16 to 1 gold/silver ratio, increasing monetary demand for silver, etc.

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Gold-Silver Ratio: Debunking The Myth

A 16-to-1 gold to silver ratio has been the Holy Grail of some silver investors since the mid-sixties.

Unfortunately, fifty years later, it is a quest that continues unabated without success.

In fact, there is evidence that contradicts and widens the chasm that separates wishful thinking from reality. 

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