Silver Prices Advance 4.2% in February

Silver prices were set to rumble in February until diving on the final day of the month. Silver still sang loud as futures in New York settled 4.2% higher than a month ago, but the level could have been nearer 12% had prices stayed closer to Tuesday’s 5.5-month high of $37.21 an ounce.

On Wednesday and in closing February, silver prices for May delivery plummeted $2.56, or 6.9% to $34.64 an ounce on the Comex in New York. Prices traded as low as $33.83 an ounce and as high as $37.58 an ounce. That is a whopping $3.75 swing. To describe it in another way, the melt value of an old 1964 Kennedy half dollar ranged from $12.24 to $13.59 in a single day.

Silver’s one-day pullback followed gold losses which were mostly attributed to profit-taking and comments from Fed Ben Bernanke who provided no signal for future and further monetary easing, as investors were apparently wanting/expecting.

Jim Wyckoff of Kitco writes: "In prepared remarks to the U.S. Congress Wednesday morning Bernanke said the U.S. economy is showing signs of improvement. The Fed chief made no mention of another round of quantitative easing in the works by the U.S. central bank. This led some to reckon that with an improving U.S. economy the Fed may not need to continue to inject liquidity into the monetary system. While Bernanke’s comments were not outright bearish for commodity markets, the past four years of very easy monetary policy has been a major underlying bullish factor for the raw commodity sector, including the precious metals."

In other New York metals futures on Wednesday:

• April gold prices closed down $77.10 to $1,711.30 an ounce for 1.7% loss in February,
• April platinum prices settle to $1,692.60 an ounce for a 6.6% monthly increase, and
• June palladium prices closed at $708.40 an ounce for a pick-up of 3.2% in February

The London silver fixing was $37.23 an ounce on Wednesday which put it up $3.63, or 10.8%, for the month. The fixing is likely to see a correction on Thursday, pulling it more in line with silver futures in New York.

In other London fixings, gold at $1,770 an ounce rose 1.5% in February, platinum at $1,726 an ounce added 6.3% for the month and palladium at $722 an ounce climbed 4.3% in February.