Silver poised for its own moment

9.20.24 - Silver poised for its own moment

Gold last traded at $2,620 an ounce. Silver at $31.09 an ounce.

Gold is having a moment - but silver is poised for its own: Morning Brief -Yahoo! Finance

Gold might be hitting record highs, but silver is starting to turn investors' heads once again.

The metal - at once precious and industrial - has surged for four straight days, poking above $31 per ounce for the first time since July.

While the 10% gain this week is already the best since the early pandemic days of August 2020 - and is enough to secure a two-month high - investors likely have their sights set much higher.

There are a few reasons why the second-place metal has potential. First, silver has slightly outperformed gold this year, but gold prices are still elevated with respect to silver on a historical basis when looking at the so-called gold-silver ratio.

When the multiple of gold to silver reaches 80, many investors will look for buying opportunities in silver, betting that the ratio will mean revert. Currently, it stands at 84 but was above 90 only weeks ago as gold was surging. According to DataTrek's Nicholas Colas, the historical average of the ratio since 1990 is 70, which means silver has room to run long-term versus gold.

Technical analysis of silver prices also reveals long-term pent-up bullish potential, and the two looming peaks in silver's history at about $50 per ounce could act as magnets for a breakout.

Silver prices surged and shook the investing world in 1980 when Nelson Bunker Hunt, William Herbert Hunt, and Lamar Hunt attempted to corner the market on silver. The Hunt Brothers' market manipulation scheme succeeded in inflating prices by 700% after they acquired about one-third of the world's silver supply.