At the beginning of last year, the price of silver was around $6/oz, so why was it $10 dollars today (and last week ~$15)? What key factors are influencing the price?
2006-06-17 17:25:17 · 6 answers · asked by Josefina R 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Investing
Silver has a number of unique properties including its strength, malleability and ductility, its electrical and thermal conductivity, its sensitivity to and high reflectance of light and the ability to endure extreme temperature ranges. Silver’s unique properties restrict its substitution in most applications. For many years the depressed price of silver (under $6 per ounce) made it economically unprofitable to mine. Most new silver supply was a result of base metal mining. This supply was not enough to meet the increasing demand of this important metal so supply was met from existing above ground supply or surplus. This above ground supply has now dwindled so prices are rising in order to bring new mining efforts online.
2006-06-17 18:17:17 · answer #1 · answered by Fiat Slayer 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One important thing that is often overlooked, beyond the supply/demand and speculator interest, is the devaluation of the US currency. If the currency was devalued, relative to many other currencies, then that alone would bring the price to 7 or 8. Industrial uses outstrip the cosmetic retail demands (jewelry) even though the previous big user (photography) has been replaced with digital filming formats. Silver is still big in electronics and dentistry.
2006-06-17 17:32:25 · answer #2 · answered by Rabbit 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if you know the law of supply and demand not only that but
supply and demand link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand
Battered by fears of rising inflation and interest rates, gold has pulled back sharply from its 26-year high above $730 an ounce hit in May. On Thursday, the metal ended higher for the first time in eight sessions, joining in a broader market recovery.
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?column=Metals+Stocks&siteid=mktw&dist=
2006-06-17 17:30:56 · answer #3 · answered by n K 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When it reached about $9.80, an English investment company decided to start a "tracking fund" for silver, and this news was widely circulated along with projections of how much they would buy as the base level for investment in the fund.
2006-06-17 17:30:21 · answer #4 · answered by Pup 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When people get scared that something bad is going to happen to the economy, people invest in gold and silver just incase paper money becomes worthless.
2006-06-17 17:28:32 · answer #5 · answered by jacksfullhouse 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
fears of the market people are in and out
2006-06-17 17:32:01 · answer #6 · answered by pinkdiva 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋