Topping silver price news today is how the flight-to-safety trade is back on, as evidenced by recent moves in commodities.
Despite some profit taking Friday, silver prices rose roughly 5% this week and 1% last week. That helped the white metal log a sterling 21.3% gain for August and nearly 30% over the last nine weeks.
Interest in silver, a safe-haven alternative asset, has been freshly stoked amid fears the United States and its allies will launch a military strike against Syria in retaliation for use of chemical weapons in its civil war.
Also giving silver prices a boost this week were bullish comments from industry experts on precious metals.
Here's the silver price news you can't miss:
Legendary commodities authority Jim Rogers told Reuters Tuesday "stocks are [going to] go down...commodities are [going to] go up." And it's not just Middle East tensions that have Rogers bothered...
He's also worried about the winding down of the U.S Federal Reserve's market-supporting bond purchases, especially the impact a QE tapering will have on emerging markets. Developing countries like India, Indonesia, and Turkey, which have benefited from loose monetary polices by borrowing dollars at rock-bottom rates, have seen their markets and currencies plummet recently over concerns they'll find it hard to close current account deficits as interest rates rise.
Rogers advises to prepare for a "market panic" and "huge mess" by loading up on commodities.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) top analyst Tom Fitzpatrick came out with bullish comments on silver and gold this week. Fitzpatrick told King World News Wednesday that the price of gold could experience a 150% super-surge, and silver a whopping 300% jump.
"We still believe that in the next couple of years, we will be looking at a gold price of around $3,500," Fitzpatrick said. He added that as the gold/silver ratio plummets near 30, "this would suggest a silver price above $100."
Fitzpatrick continued, "Silver is still the one that looks like it should outperform. Silver has advanced quite strongly and broken through some important moving averages. So that opens the price of silver up to go and test the breakout point and the 200-day moving average, which have both converged around the $26 area. More importantly, a break above the downward treadlines from the 2011 highs, as well as the converged 55-and-200 week moving averages that stand in the area between $27 and $28, would be extremely bullish. So, above that $27 to $28 area on a weekly closing basis would mark a firm breakout in the price of silver."
Marc Faber, aka Dr. Doom, was his usual voice of doom and gloom Wednesday in an interview with Hard Assets Investors. But the glass-half-empty guru is optimistic when it comes to precious metals.
"Looking at how debt will continue to increase and how central banks will continue their monetization not only in the U.S. but on a worldwide scale, I assume the price of gold will trend higher. Eventually we will be over $1,921. The question is, will it be this year or in five years? That I don't know. But as I have argued repeatedly, I think that part of your assets should be held in physical gold. I emphasize physical gold," Faber said.
Frenzied demand for physical silver and tight supplies of refined silver forced the U.S. Mint to ration sales this year and also caused long lines at dealers the world over.
The Mint reports that demand for its one-ounce American Eagle silver bullion coins remains "brisk," with sales up 47% compared to a year earlier. If present demand continues, the Mint says it's on track for record sales in 2013.
"Fundamental demands for physical silver and technical analysis have made a good case for higher silver down the road," J.W. Haugen, COO of Texas-based Provident Metals, told Money Morning.
Additionally, silver ETF holdings reached a record high of 644 million ounces as of August 21, representing about 83% of 2012 mine supply.
Finally, as equity investors brace for a rocky month ahead, precious metals investors embrace September.
You see, although September is historically the worst month for stocks, it's the best month for precious metals.
Over the past 23 years, average spot gold monthly returns have been around 3% in September. The next highest month is November, which doesn't even hit 2%.
Find out how you can position your portfolio for silver profits here: How to Buy Physical Silver
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