Silver's Investment Demand Conundrum
The silver market is increasingly becoming an exercise in contradiction. On one hand, the silver spot price has disappointed thus far in 2013, falling from the low-thirties in early January down to its current level around US$29.00/oz. Given that price direction, one would be forgiven for assuming that the silver ETF's had experienced outflows over that time - but they have not. While we have seen the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) shed 141 tonnes of gold year-to-date with the price of gold reacting accordingly, silver ETF's have in fact ADDED to their stockpiles since January 2013, representing more than 20 million ounces of additional silver.
Chart 1 below, courtesy of Bloomberg, compares the total ETF Holdings of gold versus that for silver since the beginning of the year. As can be seen, silver ETF's have enjoyed considerable inflows over the past three months, while gold ETFs have seen redemptions. Given the positive correlation between the prices of gold and silver, it is indeed strange to see the metals' most popular exchange-traded vehicles experience completely divergent investment flows.
Read more: Forbes.com, 23 March 2013