Archive for March, 2008

Visa recently had the largest (dollar amount) IPO in Wall Street history providing many of the underwriting banks much needed boost in earnings for the quarter. Maybe even for the year.

This IPO, lower interest rates from the Fed, and some people thinking the price of most precious metals is way too high, like gold and silver, makes for a tough market on silver. In one week the price of silver went down nearly 4 dollars a troy ounce. You knew it had to happen sooner or later, the price was just escalating to rapidly.

So what does that mean for your investment strategy? Should you get out too? Well if you bought at $21, I might have to suggest sticking it out, (although don’t take my investment advice, I beg you). But with the recent sell off, and inflation not being helped by lower interest rates (at least I think that’s how it goes) you may see the price of silver climb again.

But don’t bet the house on it, only as much as you can loose.

Are you wondering how to get in the precious metals “gold rush” that’s going on right now? Should you run out and buy as much gold, silver, and platinum jewelry as you can? Should you surf the pages of EBay and buy up bricks of silver and gold?

Although these options may give you something to hold in your hands, they aren’t very practical for the average investor. Buying physical silver and gold might require you to get insurance on your pieces, that can wipe out your profits. And buying physical gold and silver also puts you into the collectible tax category where taxable gains are at your normal tax bracket, not the possible long-term investment tax breaks you could get if you invested in other methods.

One way to get in on the silver rush is to buy an Electronically Traded Fund (ETF). The main silver trading fund is SLV, the i-shares silver trust. This fund is backed by silver and trades relatively close to the price of silver on a day to day basis. Doing so can keep you the long-term investment tax situation if you keep the fund for longer than a year. And buying and selling the fund is as easy as trading in your normal trading account. Unlike silver bars where you have to go and find a dealer or other collector who wants to purchase them.

Get into trading silver with SLV if you want an easy in on the latest “Silver Rush.”

Silver and gold have both been on the rise. Gold is at historic highs, silver is on it’s way there, and the US economy seems to be driving all this madness. So does that mean when the economy gets back on track the world will drop it’s precious metals holdings and leave prices in the dust? Should you buy silver or gold right not?

That’s a very good question. One obviously not many can answer. However, if you look at the world, how it’s growing, you’d have to wonder if the prices of gold and silver would just naturally stay higher. The need for these two precious metals in the electronics industry isn’t going to go away. And with growth being seen in all types of economies, it appears the need will continue to rise putting demand on precious metals at all time highs.

Couple that with all these new investors that are jumping into the mix and you have a lot of potential people that want to buy silver. That might make silver a good buy still or at least a hold, but I guess if you’ve made your profit, you could take it now and wait and see if there are still good points to get back in.

Buying silver can be tricky but still can be a good idea.

The price of silver, per troy ounce, has been dancing around $20 this past week as the dollar continues to weaken and investors look to safer investments for the time being.

The following, pulled from an article on Money.com Jon Nadler, a senior analyst at Kitco Bullion Dealers in Montreal

He says it is “not inconceivable” to see gold prices reach $1,000 an ounce before the Federal Reserve meets on March 18, depending on what sort of economic data is released between now and then.

Gold at $1,000 a troy ounce. What then is Silver’s $1k mark? Is it $20, is it $25, or could it even be going to $30!!!

I’ll put my money on silver settling around $22 a troy ounce by the end of the month. That’s almost doubling it’s price in the last 5 months. As the market gets more and more volatile investors will need safer places to put their money, and with the dollar looking weak and continuing on that trend, precious metals just seem like the right place to go.