Looking ahead, the quickly expanding photovoltaic panel or solar industry could continue to drive silver demand. Installations and investment in solar panels, which incorporate silver for its electrical conductivity, are at record levels, reports Henry Sanderson for the Financial Times.
Bolstering the appeal for silver, the precious metal enjoys heavy industrial demand that benefits from an expanding global economy. Over 50% of global demand for silver comes from industries like chemicals, medicine and technological appliances.
Some commodities market observers see more upside coming for silver and the aforementioned exchange traded funds. It could just be a matter of investors properly timing new entries into the likes of SIVR and SLV.
“While silver has a correlation of 0.8 to gold historically, the majority of demand is tied to industrial applications (approximately 50%) making it a precious-industrial metal hybrid performing well along the broader industrial metal complex in recent months. Growing industrial applications including electronics, solar panels, and auto manufacturing (with news of Volkswagen debuting its “climate windscreen” which incorporates silver) against increased global manufacturing and industrial activity may continue to be a tailwind for silver,” according to the ETF Securities note seen in Barron’s.
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