Silver Price News Today Revolves Around North Korea Situation

In silver price news today (Friday, April 28), prices are down 0.5% and trading at $17.25. With that loss, silver prices are on track for a weekly loss of 3.4% and a sharp monthly loss of 5.5% in April.

silver price news todayFirst, here's more on how North Korea has been dominating both market and mainstream news headlines recently, and how the situation there could send silver prices soaring...

Why North Korea Is at the Center of Silver Price News Today

The historically strained relationship between the United States and North Korea has dominated both silver price news and stock market news in recent weeks.

Tensions between the two powers have gotten worse as North Korea continues to test ballistic missiles off the Korean Peninsula. After the U.S. government ordered an aircraft carrier move toward the peninsula on April 12, North Korea said there could be "catastrophic consequences" for the move.

Must See: The Free Guide to Investing in Silver in 2017

The nation's consistent threats of war and seven missile tests so far in 2017 have forced the U.S. government to weigh military options. President Trump told Reuters yesterday (Thursday, April 27) that the United States is at a place where it could seriously clash with North Korea if diplomacy fails.

silver news"There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea," Trump said during the Reuters interview. "We'd love to solve things diplomatically, but it's very difficult."

Geopolitical crises like this are often a boon for silver prices. Investors typically purchase precious metals like silver and gold during conflicts because they're unsure how these events will affect market sentiment. Silver's safe-haven qualities ensure the metal's value steadies or rises during these uncertain times.

While the tense situation should have added pressure on the stock market and boosted silver, the opposite has been happening due to other economic factors. The Dow Jones has gained 1.4% this month thanks to Trump finally releasing more details on his big tax proposal. Those gains mean investors have been shying away from less liquid investments, like metals, and moving into stocks.

But as Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continue to make threats, the crisis may only get worse from here. When that happens, investors will slowly but surely pile back into silver as the conflict continues to unfold.

This is one of the many reasons why we're bullish on the silver price in 2017. Here's how high Krauth expects the metal to rise by the end of the year...

Our 2017 Silver Price Prediction Shows Double-Digit Gains

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According to Krauth, silver prices could climb to $22 an ounce by the end of 2017. That's a gain of 27.5% from the current price of $17.25.

Another big reason we're bullish on the price of silver is the rising number of long silver futures contracts. When speculators and traders buy a long silver futures contract, it means they're "going long" on silver prices. In other words, they're betting on a long-term rally for the silver price. A large number of long futures contracts on silver indicates that sentiment is turning bullish.

And long silver futures contracts have been soaring recently. According to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the number of long futures contracts on the metal for the week ended April 11 climbed for the third straight week to 105,515. Bloomberg reports this is the highest number of contracts since record keeping began in 1993 and therefore the most bullish speculative level on record.

This long-term bullish sentiment is also in line with the seasonal silver price performance, which we're experiencing the worst of right now.

"Prices tend to peak in early April, then trend downwards until late August before rallying once again," Krauth said on April 17. "But again, that will just clear the way for a silver price rally through the end of the year."

The Bottom Line: Despite the decline in silver prices this past month, we're still very bullish over the long term. The United States' quickly escalating conflict with North Korea won't be ending anytime soon, which should urge investors to buy silver as a hedge against possible market volatility. This - combined with surging long positions on silver futures contracts - could push the price of silver up 27.5% to $22 by the end of 2017.

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