Yet, this is not a time to despair, as both gold and silver are showing incredible resilience, adapting and adjusting to these difficult times, with gold holding solidly above the $1500 mark and silver smashing through the $18.00 per ounce level.
This smash lower came just as silver was rocketing towards the $19.00 mark, after quickly passing through its previous resistance levels in prior trading sessions.
The reasoning for these metals moving higher are many fold and have been discussed at length on the Sprott Money blog and most, if not all of these contributing factors are still solidly in place.
The China / US trade war is giving no indication that it is going to come to a close anytime soon, despite President Trumps apparent softening in his approach over the past month, he has once again renewed his efforts and gone on the attack, stating that he regrets not raising tariffs higher on China.
The Fed's are clearly not the only masters of doublespeak.
Obviously, this is an attempt to keep the markets chugging along, while at the same time, trying to force the Fed's hand in lowering rates even further.
I believe that ultimately the Federal Reserve is going to do just that, as they know that the global economy is not healthy and is on the verge of a major recession.
Rates are going lower and that means that both gold and silver are going to adjust accordingly, moving higher in lockstep with lower rates and as investors seek the unique safety that only these metals can provide.
Despite believing that both gold and silver are ultimately going higher, I also believe that silver is destined to outshine gold in price gains, but why?
Good question.
The answer is simple, the gold to silver ratio and the fact that it is currently indicating by all historical standards that silver is very, very underpriced.
As it stands right now, the gold to silver ratio is approximately 85:1, meaning that it takes 85 ounces of silver to buy 1 ounce of gold.
To find the gold to silver ratio, all that you need to do is divide the current gold price by the current silver price.
Just for reference, here are some historical comparisons:
- The ratio of gold to silver in the earth's crust is 17.5:1.
- In ancient Roman times, the gold to silver ratio was set at 12:1.
- In 1792 the gold to silver ratio in the United States was fixed
at - In 1803, France set this ratio at 15.5:1.
Even if you disregard all of the above, and use much more recent numbers, the average gold to silver ratio over the past two decades still stands at 60:1, indicating that our current 85:1 ratio is horribly out of alignment and in need of a major adjustment.
This means that even if gold was to remain at its current price levels (something I don't believe is going to be the case), then silver would still have to move higher by roughly $7.00 per ounce, just to reach the more recent, modern day averages.
However, it is very likely given the fundamentals that gold is going to move higher, as David Rosenberg, Gluskin Sheff’s chief economist stated in a recent interview.
He believes that $3,000 gold is a very real possibility, which would mean that silver would need to move to roughly $35.00 per ounce, just to maintain todays current, historically out of whack ratio.
If silver out-paces gold, returning to a more healthy 60:1 gold to silver ratio, then this would put silver at $50.00 per ounce, nearing its all time high.
Either way, we are looking at incredibly impressive gains if gold and silver continue down the current path they are on, heading incrementally higher as the months and years progress.
The printing presses are not slowing down, the Fed is in all likelihood going to lower rates, just as the markets are demanding they do and the 2020 elections are just over the horizon, bringing with them massive turmoil and chaos.
Gold and silver are destined to move higher. Their time to shine is now.
- Source, as first seen on the Sprott Money Blog