Silver market cracked this morning

[brewer12345]

The front month future is down 10%! So much for being a safe haven. I hope any of you with lots of silver have been nimble...

[laurence]

and falling, Gold and Platinum down, too. What's driving this?

[Craig]

This proves precious metals are not a safe haven?

Not worried.* It is one of the most volatile investments you can make, up and down.

Gold supposedly falling on strength of the dollar. Yep, I really see the ol' greenback just zooming in value ...

Quote:

11:00AM Silver futures lead broad metals decline; gold drops $20 by Myra P. Saefong SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- May silver dropped $1.822, or 12.6%, to $12.70 an ounce in New York, leading a broad decline among the metals futures. June gold sank $20, or 3.1%, to $616 an ounce after reaching a record $645 earlier in the session. "This originated in the silver pits," said Jon Nadler, an analyst at Kitco.com. There's "major profit-taking by funds that had loaded up ... in anticipation of the silver ETF," he said, and since the ETF still has not seen the light of day, "funds decided not to be pigs and took some money off the table."

Quote:

Gold futures turned lower on strength in the dollar. The benchmark June contract was last down $15.50 at $620.50 an ounce.

[Nevi]

of course it will go down, but then, it will go up again. As Charles had mention, it is the most volatile market. Lots of factors can affect its movement.

[camberiu]

It was just profit taking, after the 25 years highs. Gold dropped to $614 this morning and now as I write, is back up to $622 and climbing.

[brewer12345]

I'd guess this is just the inevitable correction after silver shot up from ~$10 to over $14 in a few weeks for no particlarly obvious reason. *The greater fool theory at work.

[Cool Dood]

This is easily explained as speculators speculating that speculators would speculate on the speculations of speculating speculators.

[OldAgePensioner]

Read this title and hit VGPMX within .001 second on my quote screen. Whew, looks stable.

[camberiu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cool Dood This is easily explained as speculators speculating that speculators would speculate on the speculations of speculating speculators.

Funny,

Do you know any form of financial investment that is not "speculation"?

[OldAgePensioner]

yes, investing in a diamond wedding ring! No speculation at all about how much that's gonna cost ya.

[camberiu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldAgePensioner yes, investing in a diamond wedding ring! No speculation at all about how much that's gonna cost ya.

You need to speak with some divorced folks that I know

[OldAgePensioner]

Wait, isn't a diamond forever?

[riskadverse]

probably not pc

[Spanky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldAgePensioner Wait, isn't a diamond forever?

So is bitter feeling of separation or joy of togetherness. If you are still thinking about marrying the Asian women from the Phillipines, the cost will be more than that of a diamond ring. However, if the marriage do work out as expected, it may be a wise investment. One cannot place a monentary value to relationship.

Good luck.

[youbet]

Not to hijack this thread, but I have a question about silver.

Long ago and far away, I think around 1970, I purchased some silver bars.* (What was I thinking ) I think the name on them is Englehard or something like that.

I'd like to sell them and buy some toys.* Anyone experienced with this and have any experience doing so?*I stopped by the local strip mall coin shop and the guy behind the counter just rolled his eyes and sent me and my shoebox (heavy) full of silver on my way.

[SC]

youbet - I just went through the same process, unloading some silver I'd bought about 15 years ago. (Likewise - what was I thinking?)

I couldn't find any local coin/bullion dealers who wanted to buy, except for one that was part of a strange gun shop/pawn shop/bullion shop conglomerate.

Several dealers pointed me at AJPM (www.ajpm.com) and they were who I ended up selling to. Shipping was expensive, but even so, I got a much better deal than the local shop would have given me.

A close second choice would be Kitco.

Good luck, SC

[youbet]

Thanks SC!

Did they charge you anything for testing?

BTW, just to punish myself, I compared the growth of my "investment" in these silver bars with the hypothetical growth of the same dollar investment in the S&P 500 made 35 years ago.* I'm sure you can guess the outcome!* ** It's a good thing the rest of my "investments" worked better than this!*

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet Not to hijack this thread, but I have a question about silver.

Hey, cut that out! This thread has come home to sex.

Ha

[SC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by youbet Did they charge you anything for testing?

Nope. But I was selling US 90% silver coins, which might be handled differently.

Quote:

BTW, just to punish myself, I compared the growth of my "investment" in these silver bars with the hypothetical growth of the same dollar investment in the S&P 500 made 35 years ago. I'm sure you can guess the outcome! It's a good thing the rest of my "investments" worked better than this!

Now that you brought this up, I had to go do the same. My silver appreciated 77% in the time that VTSMX went up 128% and the CPI rose 30%. So, it wasn't a great move, but it could have been worse. I feel pretty lucky to have gotten rid of it and made a small profit besides.

In case anybody is thinking of buying some - silver is a real pain to buy, sell, and store, because of it's high weight-to-value ratio. And there's the same drawbacks as other metals - no interest or dividends; on average I'd expect them to keep up with inflation (plus a little for increasing demand by an increasing population). Plus, the IRS considers bullion a "collectible" and taxes it at a higher rate, although it seems a lot of folks A) report their bullion gains under the normal tax rates anyway, and B) talk about that openly on usenet...

SC

[greg]

youbet: I would hunt around for a better coin shop. Those strip mall ones may not be quite right with this sort of thing. They make their money on coin sales and tend to focus on that end of things. Look in a a seedier neighborhood or a larger town. Really! Sometimes the older codgers running them will have their own network for resale. You've got the good stuff, all marked and weighed up. You should get very close to full price. They make it up selling it at a premium to someone else.

If that doesn't work, Google "gold and silver refiners." You should find a buyer fairly near you. They usually list buy prices and a telephone number. They may recommend a refiner closer to you if you ask. They'll cut you a check on delivery. Maybe negotiate with them a bit; they refine it into what you've got. May be a nice two hour trip.

Bad idea though to my mind. I think you're selling early. So, what could you buy if it goes to $50 or $100oz on this decade's run?