Silver Surges Near $70 as US Debt Concerns Mount
Silver prices have been on a tear lately, and on Friday it came within $0.06 of reaching the psychologically significant level of $70 per ounce.
The catalyst for this recent surge was the US Treasury's announcement that it would at least double its buybacks of long-dated government bonds, sparking concerns about the sustainability of American public finances and boosting the appeal of hard assets like silver.
This rally is not a flash in the pan; over the past 30 days, silver has climbed roughly 15 percent, with the last week alone accounting for a 6.5 percent advance.
The trajectory to current levels has been anything but smooth, with early August seeing silver oscillating in a $63-to-$66 band before reaching an eight-week high near $66 following July's US inflation reading of 3.4 percent year over year.
The Treasury's bond-buyback news on August 19 flipped the script, propelling spot silver to around $66.63 by August 20, with market participants attributing this uptick to a convergence of fiscal anxiety and physical-market tightness.