Exchange traded funds (ETFs) that deal in “poor man’s gold” have embarked on a seemingly unstoppable climb amid rising gold prices and quantitative easing in overseas economies.
The Bank of Japan’s moves early today were the most recent impetus driving silver prices higher, after the country’s central bank snapped up both gold and silver to cover bearish positions, reports Gold News. Domestically, there’s some belief that the Fed will do more quantitative easing, which could weaken the dollar and further benefit silver and gold. [Silver ETFs: Poor Man’s Gold Gets Rich.]
Silver is currently at 30-year highs, reports Jijo Jacob for International Business Times. Still, the gold-to-silver ratio is below 60, which is its lowest level in more than a year.
On the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, open interest in silver have increased by 20% since last Friday, writes Dave Forest for Oil Price. Silver open interest in Japan has been continuously rising for the past six months as “non-commercial customers” increased their demand for the precious metal as a store of value. [Tom Lydon Makes ETF Picks on CNBC.]