Silver's hot streak gathers pace; market at highest since 2011
Spot silver was up 0.3% at $39.40 per troy ounce as of 1354 GMT, its highest level since September 2011.
Silver, both a precious and industrial metal, is up 36% this year, outperforming gold's 31% growth and coming within a whisker of the key $40-per-ounce mark. The metal hit a record high of $49 in 2011.
U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to impose 50% import tariffs on copper from August 1 and the U.S. import tariffs for Mexico widened the premium of the U.S. futures for silver and other metals against the London benchmarks in July, leading to a growth in lease rates in the spot market.
Gold, silver, platinum and palladium were excluded from Trump's April reciprocal tariffs, but "the broader market isn't trading it that way and is taking a page out of Comex copper's handbook", Nicky Shiels, head of metals strategy at MKS PAMP.
Spot silver prices may hit $42 per ounce this year, according to Shiels.
Analysts also noted that industrial demand for silver, heading for the fifth year of structural market deficit, remains solid, while investment demand is gaining momentum as a more affordable alternative to gold.
Silver's recent rally has improved its ratio with gold to the strongest level in seven months. It currently takes 87 ounces of silver to buy an ounce of gold , compared with 105 ounces in April.
"It is the copper tariff that sent some spinning off at odd tangents that captured the other metals," said a precious metal trader based in London, adding that the lease rates in the spot market should fall once the borrowing activity caused by the U.S. tariff fears subside.
The current momentum could be hot enough to take silver over $40/oz in the short term, said Nitesh Shah, commodity strategist at WisdomTree.
"But with positioning stretched, we would not be surprised if it fell back to $35/oz, before it starts its march higher to $45/oz next year," Shah added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
25 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Investors need certainty to build the homes Scotland needs
We must unlock the investment that would deliver new housing, says Colin Brown Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In May 2024, the Scottish Parliament declared a national 'housing emergency' with some councils also declaring a housing emergency in their areas. The announcement of the emergency came two months after the Scottish Government laid the Housing (Scotland) Bill before the Scottish Parliament. The Bill continues to work its way through Holyrood and is expected to come into force later this year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Observers in the world of institutional investment and those working in the sector have been watching the progress of the Bill with interest. Of particular concern to investors are proposals around rent controls. Colin Brown is a Partner at TLT To give one example that has occurred recently – a London-based investment firm, was about to commit many millions of pounds to its first Scottish investment before discovering that a committee considering the Bill had voted to include purpose-built student accommodation as subject to statutory rent controls. All of the financial appraisals the firm had undertaken in making the decision to invest in Scotland were potentially being ripped up by MSPs and they had no power to do anything about this. In this situation, the Scottish Government moved quickly to make clear it would not support rent control for purpose-built student accommodation. Whilst the project is now starting to come out of the ground it remains to be seen whether they consider Scotland a safe haven for future investment. The rental income which institutional investors derive from their investments in bricks and mortar helps to fund many individuals' pensions. The investors need to understand that in exchange for making their money available they will get a return on their investment and this return has generally been left to market forces – the law of supply and demand. The housing emergency should make investment in new build housing in Scotland a win-win. The country gets much-needed new housing to alleviate the emergency, and the investment funds get to deploy their capital to deliver housing and make a return on their investment. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad In the UK in the first quarter of this year £1.2 billion was invested in private rental accommodation with the potential for £6bn to be invested by the end of the year. 76 per cent of this investment is being directed outside London, with Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds leading the way. Every penny of this investment creates new housing and sustains and creates job opportunities. The fact that Scotland has not been able to open the investment tap when cities in England are seeing private rental accommodation expand, could be seen as a missed opportunity. In launching the latest consultation, the Social Justice Secretary acknowledges that rental properties are a crucial element of the efforts to tackle the housing emergency. Government policy has slowed investment into the sector in recent years and resulted in lower investor confidence in providing much-needed housing. Rent caps and controls are of course not universally despised and a balance must be struck between protecting tenants and unlocking the investment that delivers the new housing. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The latest consultation on exemptions for certain types of properties from rent control closed earlier this month. There will be investors with capital looking for a home waiting to see if the legislative and political environment in Scotland means they should be deploying more of this in Scotland or continuing to explore opportunities which guarantee a better return elsewhere.
Reuters
25 minutes ago
- Reuters
Brewer Heineken's first-half profits beat forecasts
LONDON, July 28 (Reuters) - Dutch brewer Heineken ( opens new tab on Monday reported a 7.4% rise in half-year organic operating profit, ahead of analyst expectations of 7%.
The Guardian
25 minutes ago
- The Guardian
UK gambling industry launches summer charm offensive to head off tax rise
Gambling lobbyists are staging a summer charm offensive designed to stop ministers from raising taxes on the sector, the Guardian has learned, including meeting with Treasury insiders and hosting a darts evening with Labour special advisers and MPs' staff. The Treasury is considering whether to simplify the various rates of duty applied to gambling products, a measure that the £11.5bn-a-year sector fears would increase its overall tax bill. The Betting & Gaming Council (BGC), whose members include high street bookmakers and online casinos, is understood to have outlined its objections in a submission to the Treasury, based on a report written for the trade body by the accounting firm EY. But the BGC has also embarked on a back-channel lobbying push, according to emails sent to its members and seen by the Guardian. In at least one case, a social event was promoted to Labour staff directly by the Labour Staff Network (LSN), offering them the opportunity to attend and hear speeches. The event was a darts-themed evening, hosted by BGC and Flutter plc, the owner of Paddy Power, Betfair and SkyBet, an event the trade body said would help it 'continue building constructive engagement across Westminster'. At the event, more than 100 Labour staff and ministerial special advisers heard an address from the BGC chief executive Grainne Hurst, a former Ladbrokes executive and one-time aide to the former Conservative MP Philip Davies, who has railed against tax increases. The social at the end of June was promoted via the LSN, which is run by and for the staff of Labour MPs and is independent of party HQ. It was held in partnership with Prostate Cancer UK. A Flutter UKI spokesperson said: 'The Labour staffers event was a great opportunity for us to talk about our 'Big 180' partnership with Prostate Cancer UK – built around the World Darts Championship – which has so far encouraged 350,000 men to check out their risk of developing the disease.' As part of the charm offensive, the BGC's chair, the former Labour MP Michael Dugher, met Katie Martin, the chief of staff to Rachel Reeves, and was also 'in touch' with the chancellor herself, according to the emails. A source close to Reeves said she had no formal meeting with the BGC and would not ever have discussed the tax changes. Senior BGC figures also told members in emails that they had briefed Labour MPs including Jo Platt, Gareth Snell and Adam Jogee on tax, as well as meeting the sports minister Stephanie Peacock – who is Dugher's successor in his former Barnsley East seat. The emails said Dugher also met the special adviser to the government's chief whip, shortly after the bruising defeat on the welfare reform bill. They say BGC representatives attended a campaign fundraiser event for Labour's business champion Gregor Poynton MP and Imogen Walker, the parliamentary private secretary to Reeves, attended by the prime minister's chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, who is Walker's husband, and the UK's ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson. The BCG also hosted events for the Tories, sponsoring the inaugural Conservatives in Sports drinks reception, addressed by the shadow culture minister, Stuart Andrew, and attended by the shadow gambling minister, Louie French, and the chair of the DCMS select committee, Caroline Dinenage. A BGC spokesperson said: 'It is entirely common and appropriate for trade bodies like the BGC to routinely meet with ministers, shadow ministers and MPs as well as officials and advisers across government. All donations and hospitality are consistent with the parliamentary and other rules and are fully declared and transparent. 'Ministers have been clear in public and in parliament that they would be meeting with the relevant stakeholders as part of the consultation on tax harmonisation proposals. That includes the BGC, which represents companies employing over 100,000 people and a sector enjoyed safely by millions of customers each month. 'The BGC also recently met with the minister leading the tax consultation, James Murray, as would be expected as part of any government consultation on measures which would impact businesses and customers.' It comes as the Treasury considers raising tax on the sector to help Reeves shore up the UK's ailing public finances. The industry took £15.6bn from British punters last year, of which £11.5bn went to betting and gaming organisations and the remainder to the national lottery and other lotteries. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion A number of Labour MPs are pushing to toughen up the government's approach to gambling – despite longstanding links of party veterans to the industry. Those who have joined the all-party parliamentary group on gambling include new MPs Beccy Cooper, Sarah Coombes, Alex Ballinger and Andrew Pakes. The MP Dawn Butler, who intends to run for mayor of London, and the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, have also been pushing to hand more power to councils to block the spread of 24-hour slot machine venues. Butler launched a campaign on Wednesday to stop the spread of high street betting shops, saying her own borough of Brent in north-west London had at least 102 venues, including betting shops, casinos, and adult gaming centres. 'Nearly one person a day dies by suicide linked to gambling addiction. This is a public health crisis, and it's time our planning laws reflect that and stop these gambling companies preying on communities that are often vulnerable and deprived,' she said. Butler has submitted a parliamentary motion, calling for legislative changes to the Gambling Act 2005 to give local authorities greater power to refuse new gambling premises where there is clear evidence of community harm – especially as these venues are being targeted in areas of deprivation. Gambling companies are projected to pay £3.6bn in duties this year, of which £1.2bn is 'remote gaming duty', a tax of 21% applied to online gambling. A further £713m is 'general betting duty' paid by high street bookmakers at a lower rate of 15%. One option under consideration is to harmonise the two rates. This has met vehement opposition from the horse-racing industry, which fears the impact on a sport whose finances are already under severe pressure. Senior figures from racing have made this case personally in a meeting with Reeves, according to one industry source. Some in racing are understood to have made clear they would not object to much higher taxes on online casino products, as long as the sport is left untouched. Several gambling industry sources said this could result in taxes on online gaming products, such as casino games and digital slot machines, being raised from 21% to as much as 35%. The Social Market Foundation (SMF) thinktank is preparing a report on how much could be raised by adjusting gambling taxes, putting forward several scenarios. At last year's budget, the Treasury considered but ultimately rejected a proposal from the SMF that would have doubled taxes on the most harmful gambling products to 41%.
