| Last week after much publicity and a long wait, the | | | | especially driving the price of silver is the approval of |
| Barclay's Silver ETF (SLV) finally started trading. And | | | | Barclay's new silver fund. The fund is backed by |
| it looks like the wait was worth it. Each share | | | | physical silver and trading in this fund has created a |
| represents 10 ounces of silver. Trading began at $129 | | | | demand for physical silver. This will likely continue to |
| a share and at the end of trading for the first day, | | | | drive the price of silver upward. |
| the new Exchange Traded Fund closed at $138.12 | | | | As the second day of trading ended with 1.5 million |
| after trading more then 2 million shares on it's first | | | | shares traded and silver continuing to move slightly |
| day of trading. | | | | upward, there is speculation on how long this trend |
| This new fund appears to be immensely popular with | | | | will last. Silver however, is not driven by day to day |
| traders. It is one of the new Exchange Traded Funds | | | | news, like many equities. It is driven by long term |
| that is acting more like a commodity then a stock. | | | | trends. This particular trend started with the |
| Exchange Traded Funds which ten years ago were | | | | introduction of the gold standard and the end of the |
| very conservative and were mostly mirrors of major | | | | use of silver as money. With the introduction of the |
| stock indexes, are now getting very creative in the | | | | new Silver ETF, this long term trend is reversing. |
| sectors they represent and also in the underlying | | | | Silver is now for the first time in years, being stored |
| financial instrument they represent. You can now but | | | | as wealth again. |
| an ETF that invests in gold, silver or oil. When the | | | | Another trend is the use of silver as an industrial |
| equity markets are looking dull, investors can now | | | | metal. With the industrialization of India and China, the |
| move their money into funds that are driven by | | | | use silver as an industrial metal is increasing. There is |
| commodities. While not as volatile as the futures | | | | now competition for physical silver for use as an |
| markets, these funds can still have wide price swings. | | | | industrial metal and for storing of physical silver for |
| Silver and Gold have been recently trading at multi | | | | investment. This appears to beginning of a long term |
| decade highs. With inflation beginning to increase and | | | | trend that will keep the pressure on silver prices to |
| volatility in world energy markets, these metals could | | | | move upwards. |
| continue to increase in value. Another factor, | | | | |