Exchange traded funds that track the price movements of silver were brought down along with gold on Wednesday as precious metals suffered while stock ETFs enjoyed a bounce.
“Equities are sharply higher today, and Obama is coming on with his jobs address,” commented Matt Zeman, a senior market strategist at Kingsview Financial, report Claudia Assis and Myra P. Saefong for MarketWatch. “We’ve seen a little bit of a return of risk appetite.”
During early trading, silver futures dropped 3.5% but pared most of their loses. Silver ETFs have stalled a bit near a recent high along with funds tracking the metal’s higher-profile cousin: gold.
Still, silver ETFs were up about 36% so far this year through Tuesday’s close. Stocks rose Wednesday — the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 260 points in afternoon trade while silver ETFs shed more than 1%.
Recession fears have partly weighed on silver lately — around half of total world demand for silver comes from the industrial sector, according to Gold Matters.