loantech,
I normally just lurk on the thread, but you and other's interested in silver might be interested in the following letter to the Barron's Editor in response to last week's Commodities Column, which was an uninspiring assessment of silver:
"MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2003
Shiny Silver
To the Editor:
While Gavin Maguire provided a decent summary of the bullish and bearish cases for silver ("Ho-Hum Silver," Commodities Corner, Sept. 29) his list wasn't complete, especially on the bull side. New uses for silver are emerging, such as in superconductivity and as a biocide. As Maguire noted, demand for jewelry and coinage continues to surge, particularly in booming India and China. Unmentioned was that silver coinage also is surging, via the U.S. and Canadian bullion-coinage programs. Also, it seems likely that a silver-bullion fund may closely follow gold as an exchange-traded instrument.
Silver is historically very cheap in relation to gold. Silver is only 16 times more common than gold in the earth's crust, yet it sells for about 1/75th the price of gold.
Finally, while demand in other areas is booming, use for silver in photography is only declining very slowly, if at all. Kodak's woes may have more to do with Fuji Film than with digital.
Victor Neiberg
Vista, Calif.
Larry |
