The Gold Economy

Amid a rising precious metals environment, silver ETFs are perhaps among the brightest stars.

Don’t get us wrong; nearly all precious and base metals are hot at the moment, and have been taking their rally on an extended duration.

Deborah Levine at MarketWatch shares this information:

• Silver is up to its highest levels since at least 1984
• Gold has gained around 29% this year, but silver has gained 82%
• Copper has gained 29% this year
• Palladium is at its strongest level in nine years

Carolyn Cui and Robert Guy Matthews at The Wall Street Journal report that silver demand is through the roof, and miners and speculators are adding to the surge. The rally has been taking place despite an oversupply in the markets and low industrial demand. Although a weaker dollar has largely been pointed to as the impetus behind the rally in metals, it’s largely being attributed to investment demand.

There are four primary ways to get your silver fix:

• iShares Silver Trust (SLV) and ETFS Physical Silver (SIVR) are both physically backed by bars around the world. This is the most direct way to get exposure to silver’s prices without actually owning a bar.
• PowerShares DB Silver (DBS) owns futures contracts on silver. The biggest advantage is that the futures are rolled for you and PowerShares has a roll strategy that helps mitigate contango.
• Global X Silver Miners (SIL) tracks a basket of silver miners. If you want to avoid delivery costs and contango while keeping your taxation simple, this might be an appealing option for you. Canada is the largest country in SIL, followed by Mexico.

Tisha Guerrero contributed to this article.