Silver Prices Fall Below $18/oz, Plunging with Other Commodities

Silver prices skidded to a halt, breaking a two-week winning streak in New York.

U.S. silver futures tumbled along with other commodities on Friday as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was charged with fraud by U.S. regulators.

New York silver futures for May delivery were set to end with a positive week, and then plunged 75.8 cents after the aforementioned news broke. The metal closed to $17.675 an ounce, falling 68 cents, or 3.7% for the week.

"Goldman is a major player in gold, silver, all commodities," Frank McGhee, the head dealer at Integrated Brokerage Services Inc. in Chicago, said on Bloomberg. "They have massive positions. This puts a big question mark on all commodity activity."

On Thursday, silver prices rose modestly. It was on that same day that Barclays Capital analyst Suki Cooper prophetically said in a report:

"Given silver’s fundamentals remain weak, should the support from positive investment turn negative, prices are susceptible to sizeable price corrections."

The London Silver Fix faired better, as prices were set before the SEC charged Goldman with securities fraud. London silver was $18.35 an ounce, registering a modest one cent, or 0.1% increase for the week. Outside dips on Tuesday and Thursday, the metal registered daily gains.

London precious metal weekly prices follow:

London Fix Precious Metal Prices
	Gold		Silver	Platinum		Palladium
	AM	PM		AM	PM	AM	PM
4/9/2010	1156.00	1152.50	18.340	1722.00	1718.00	511.00	511.00
4/16/2010	1157.00	1151.50	18.350	1720.00	1708.00	542.00	532.00

 

London Weekly Bullion Prices
	Up	Down	% Change	Gain/Loss
Silver	X		0.1%	$0.01
Gold		X	-0.1%	-$1.00
Platinum		X	-0.6%	-$10.00
Palladium	X		4.1%	$21.00

 

In related silver coin news, interesting or quick-read articles from the week include:

• America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins Program
  The United States Mint will issue a new series of coins in 2010 that are composed of silver and depict American National Parks and National Sites.

  These coins are not the collector versions of the circulating America the Beautiful Quarters. They are, however, similar in name as they are called America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coins and they share the same reverse designs.

  Both new U.S. Mint coin series, the America the Beautiful Quarters™ Program and the America the Beautiful Silver Bullion Coin™ Program, are authorized by the America’s Beautiful National Parks Quarter Dollar Coin Act of 2008…

• US Mint Sales: BSA Silver Dollars Hit 83% Max, DAV Coins at 54.7%
  U.S. Mint 2010 commemorative sales continue to slow as the newness of their releases fade further each week and as most collectors who wanted them have already made their purchases.

  2010 Boy Scouts Silver Dollars have hit 83.0% of their maximum mintage. 290,392 of the available 350,000 are gone. However, the new weekly sales are less than half of the total attained from the prior week — 23,875 compared to 51,844. While it appears almost certain that the BSA silver coins will…