Any idea why PM's are dropping like a rock?

Private Messages (PM's) are dropping? Oh woeful day.

Everyone, and this is important, PM a close friend real soon......

 

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Yep, dollar strengthening as U.S. due primarily to energy boom looks positioned to recover and with fears of the European Banking system growing money will naturally flow here. So as the dollar strengthens other currencies weaken as do alternate currencies such as gold and silver. I personally prefer silver because an economic recovery should increase demand for this metal with industrial uses as opposed to gold which seems to be an alternate currency of tradition.

 

Feb '13 reported M1 was $2.44T.
Jan '08 M1 estimate was $2T.
Sept '05 M1 estimate was $1.8T.
Jan '01 M1 estimate was $1.3T.

M1 hasn't really increased to any rate that would imply inflationary pressure.

 

This is a sincere question:

What industrial uses of silver?

I think gold (for the moment) along with REs have more industrial (technological) uses than silver.

 

http://www.silverinstitute.org/site/silver-in-technology/

 

Silver is the 2nd most useful industrial commodity with over 10,000 applications, second only to crude oil. It's the best conductor of heat, best conductor of electricity, best reflector of light, of anything in the known universe. The only thing gold has on silver is that it doesn't corrode. Silver is used in every piece of electronics. The list is staggering but I'm not going to try and list it out.

 

I can think of a few, and the answer is not because physical demand is staggeringly high, because it is.

1. Last week JPM was given the green light by the CFTC, knowing that even with multiple advance timestamped e-mails as evidence they will not be prosecuted for rigging the silver market.
2. Bank runs in Cyprus going on mean that there truly is no better time to hold metals down lest the masses get tipped off as to their true nature. BitCoin is now the beneficiary as the only free market currency/money in the world.
3. Both gold and silver are close to technical breakdowns, and with the Chinese going on vacation from markets for a couple more days this week the US markets are ramping up for another bear raid, in spite of increasingly bullish fundamentals.

It's all about perceptions, for now. Cyprus could be the tip of the iceberg if this situation is not handled very delicately. Why the bankers would tip their hand over a measly 0.2% of the EU economy leads me to believe these events were intentional.

 

From '08 to '13 that is a pretty large % increase. Thanks for finding this information.

 

The employment to population ratio is the only reliable job growth indicator, and has literally not budged in 3 years in the US, and was dropping before that: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000

This doesn't even take into account all time high youth unemployment in nations like Spain and Greece.

I'm not sure what people feel about future events has to do with the reality of future events, but I prefer to prepare for as many possibilities as I can and realistically observe without allowing hope to influence my perception of reality. Hope isn't going to change anything for the better. That's what actions are for, and I've taken action to be in a position to look after myself and my family without assistance which is why I am hopeful, but I'm not going to delude myself with it. I am very optimistic about my future because I am prepared.

 

Not any longer. Carbon nanotubules has demonstrated much greater conduction of heat and electrons than any metal, including silver. Besides which they are many times stronger also. The transmission of electrons ( electricity) is by a different mechanism than metals, so there is only a fraction of the heat generated.

Since they are carbon ( relative of buckyballs) they do not reflect the visible wavelength as well as silver, but they seem to be able to absorb photons and pass on the energy, so that could eliminate any silver in solar cells in the future, as internal heat would be reduced. IMO.

 

What is the cost vs silver?

 

Although we have disagreed often on PM, I do respect your preparedness, and by your posting history, I am fairly certain you are what you say you are ~ prepared. I think many of us are truly balanced economically and can push through anything. However many are at the extremes, either no PM, nor real estate, high debt ratio, nothing to indicate a balanced investing scenario, and those are the ones who can be in dire situations if they depend mainly on PM 'value' or appreciation in value or if they depend only on the stock market or on cash.

 

When taken in consideration that graphite tennis rackets, golf club handles, and even military jet components of similar material was once unknown and thought unusable due to expense, it will be a similar curve. It's first uses will be in areas that silver ( nor any metal) can not compete such as electronic components, computers, where limits of metals speed of electron transfers will be archaic. The manufacturing processes will have to be developed for use , and then the raw material is inexpensive. No it isn't currently cheap nor readily available. I just indicated that the advantages of silver will decrease and end in the areas of electron transfer and heat transfer.

 

As DG pointed out, the conductivity and electronic applications of silver will be surpassed very shortly (perhaps as early as 2018) by carbon materials. As for reflecting light, that's an inaccurate and deceptive statement that nothing in the known universe reflects light better. Of aluminum, silver and gold, silver has the highest reflecting value for the 505-520 nanometer wavelengths. Basically, silver reflects GREEN the most. Aluminum has a higher reflective value for shorter wavelengths (blue and faster), and gold has a higher reflective value for longer wavelengths (yellow and slower).

Edit: Also, although silver has the highest conductivity, it's very dense, so there are more efficient materials to use when weight matters. That makes Beryllium more useful as a conductor in situations where you want to minimize weight and don't care about wasting space. A bit of physical chemistry that I had forgotten.

 

below 27 now

 

Being the best doesn't matter - being the most economical does.

 

I don't really know why they are dropping, but they seem to be getting into the "buy range" again for me. I have been buying for 20x face, and even picked up a 1818 Lima 8 reales for under melt the other day! Gotta love it when you pick up a cool coin like that for $20. I was focusing on what I call "mildly numismatic" coins, but now I may move back to bullion like purchases again. I don't know if we have hit bottom again, but we must be close now.

 

4 years is not all that shortly, and that is speculation. Also there some backlash against nano-technology in general by some scientists right now due to unknown effects on humans from nano-particles. Research has not been done, and we are exposing ourselves to things we don't understand the effects of. Maybe carbon will replace silver for some applications, maybe it won't. Time will tell. Silver is still the 2nd most useful commodity in the world until it isn't.

 

Heck of a quote. Unless you are some kind of purist snob, most people want an acceptable product that is cheapest. Why do you think consumer goods always move around the world to the cheapest manufacturing sites? Its because consumers do not wish to pay for "the best" scrub brush or stuffed animal, they want an acceptable one for the cheapest price.

I have read lately of quite a bit of usage of copper and aluminum in cheap solar panels. Its why our houses are not full of silver wire, or why most house do not have copper pipes any more.

I do believe, though, PM will always have value. Its more derived though by humans love of the shiny metal, how pretty it is, more than anything else. I believe the industrial applications are overblown, but I do believe there is a good base of demand "just because its PM".

Personally, I am more worried about PT group metals more. If carbon substitutes replace them, I do not think there will be enough demand for them "simply because they are PT group metals".

 

Hey Medora. I think this last statement somewhat contradicts the idea of pretty things, at least for platinum, itself. Iridium demand will likely increase as we view asteroid mining and space exploration with more seriousness, but the rest of the group is likely to drop, as most PT group metals are ugly grey....