Poor Man's Gold
Ned
..Numerous haven-seekers bought gold in the past month,
but many more investors can be expected to seek silver.
"When gold takes off, people will look for a cheap
alternative," says Gijsbert Groenewegen, managing partner
of Gold Arrow Capital Management. "That's why silver is
called poor-man's gold."
Coin and bar sales have been so robust -- the U.S. Mint now
is rationing American Eagle coins -- that dealers say they
can't meet small-investor demand.
"That's going to continue, because the economic problems
the world is facing...are probably going to get worse,"
says Jeffrey Christian, managing director of commodities
researcher CPM Group. "Sooner or later, physical trumps
paper [markets] and the price of silver goes back up
sharply."
Analysts look for the price of the white metal to rise to
between $14.50 and $24 by the end of next year's first
quarter. December gold has rallied already from a 2008 low
last month of $739.80 to a Oct. 10 peak of $936.30. Silver
could soon follow that trend. This is especially the case
since above-ground silver inventories are less than in
gold, says Jon Nadler, analyst with Kitco Bullion Dealers.
"Even though we didn't have a significant gain in the last
two weeks of total chaos, it could still happen," Nadler
says, noting that silver historically was viewed as
currency before gold.
Silver lagged in the past month, since it relies on demand,
unlike a monetary asset, says Bart Melek, BMO Capital
Markets commodity strategist. Uses include jewelry,
dentistry, electronics and more. "Those will be impacted by
the slowdown globally in manufacturing and consumer
spending," Melek adds.
When the economy turns around, it should add luster to
silver by increasing industrial demand, analysts say.
Furthermore, newer uses for silver are replacing lost
photography demand. Silver conducts electricity at lower
heat loads than other metals, and is used in laptops,
cellphones and iPhones.
One sign of investment is that holdings in iShares Silver
Trust (ticker: SLV), an exchange-traded fund, hit 200
million ounces for the first time in July, and were up to
220 million on Thursday. Since many types of coins and bars
are hard to obtain, Christian says, some haven-seekers "buy
the ETF instead."
Bob
I sold $1,000 of pre-1965 coins for 7.5 above face. Still have
about $1,000 more, but guess I better hold onto it, according to
this.
Bob-tx
"Ned" <nob...@pseudo.borked.net> wrote in message
news:8e869f7b934b9431...@pseudo.borked.net...
Voltronicus
> If that turns out to be a fact, I just made a big mistake.
> I sold $1,000 of pre-1965 coins for 7.5 above face. Still have
> about $1,000 more, but guess I better hold onto it, according to
> this.
If you "just" sold for 7.5X face, you made more than just a big
mistake. A conservator should be named to take over your finances!
Junk silver sells for about 10-11X face on eBay. Even the local
crooks, er I mean dealers are offering 9X.
rayj...@footnote.net
lots lower when no fear for markets.
"Voltronicus" <fwd...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8776ffef-a31e-4285...@d45g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...