As has been the case with some other commodities this year, silver is getting punished. The iShares Silver Trust (NYSEArca: SLV), the largest silver exchange traded fund, is lower by 16% year-to-date, but some market observers believe the metal can bounce back in 2019.
“Next year will be a turnaround year for silver, with prices expected to rally to $17 per ounce by the end of 2019 on higher investor demand and an unexpected end to the U.S. monetary policy tightening, according to Capital Economics,” reports Kitco News.
Potential weakness in global manufacturing has been a particular worrying development for the silver market. While silver is classified as a precious metal, it is still used in a range of industrial applications from electronics to jet-engine manufacturing, which makes the metal sensitive to global economic trends, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Other Factors for Silver
The global economic picture has come into question as an intensifying trade war between the U.S. and China, along with problems in the broader emerging markets, weighed on the silver market and the industrial demand outlook.
“Looking ahead, we think that 2019 will mark a turnaround for the silver price,” Capital Economics senior commodities economist Ross Strachan said on Wednesday. “We expect the price of silver to rise to $17 per ounce by end-2019.”
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