Silver (And Gold)

I am guilty of turning mildly positive on the outlook for  silver and gold during the latter
part of last autumn. The idea was that these prominent PMs could rally cyclically on a
global upturn in real economic output growth and a degree of acceleration in the inflation
rate. Since mid - Nov., when the last silver post hit the blog, both metals are up about 5%.
These are doggy moves given the volatility in these markets and primarily reflect recent
issues concerning US economic growth (bad winter weather) and the outlook for China's
economy as It again starts to struggle with super high debt leverage. The inflation rate has
picked up some in the US and soon we'll see how much bounce back there is in the economy
now that the weather has finally turned more seasonable for the eastern two thirds of the
US.




So, I think it is too early to toss in the towel on a cyclical pick up in the PM markets
until there is a better fix on the global economy as the US comes out of a nasty winter.


The chart for silver (with the gold price in the top panel) shows that silver has finally risen
above its 40 wk m/a, but has a way to go before a stronger positive reversal signal would
be at hand. $Silver




Also, here is a link to the 11/17/13 post on silver which provides additional background.
Silver


Somewhat parenthetically, advisors and other bloggers have started to rhapsodize on the
idea that the Chinese are big buyers of gold with the implication that this is very bullish for
the metal. Please! When there are big buyers in a market, there are plenty of sellers. Since
the sellers have been letting gold go easily, there needs to be a more persuasive argument
than demand from one segment of the market to entice us. No?