Eric Sepanek
SBC Founder
Eric Sepanek is the founder of Scottsdale Bullion & Coin, established in 2011. With extensive experience in the precious metals industry, he is dedicated to educating Americans on the wealth preservation power of gold and silver.
The silver price opened the week strong on Monday, up $0.27 to $15.70, following gains led by gold. Some news, however, shook the silver market: China Construction Bank Corp. became the first Chinese bank to participate in the London silver price fix.1 This is a sign of China’s continued attempts to be more influential in global markets.
Silver prices dropped Tuesday, marked by weak Chinese export/import data and skittishness about the Chinese addition to the London price fix; last year some discrepancies in silver fixing cost some traders thousands of dollars.
Wednesday’s silver price stayed low, diverging from gold’s general rally. Gold and silver prices tend to move together, but silver has not taken on the upswing that gold has lately. Silver is less expensive than gold and used more prevalently in industry, so a silver rally may take longer to spark, but once it has been confirmed that gold is indeed rising consistently, it is likely that silver will follow.
The price of silver did not change Thursday morning on the ECB announcement to lower interest rates but ward off further cuts in the future, however, prices rose in the afternoon, following gold’s general climb. Silver prices maintained on Friday. The price of silver has generally gained 16% since the beginning of the year.
Additional Sources:
1 – http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-construction-bank-becomes-first-chinese-bank-to-help-set-silver-price-1457366991