Silver ETF Holdings Decline

Silver prices don’t seem to be keeping pace with gold prices as of late. Silver ETF holdings are a bit down. This is somewhat surprising, as usually gold and other precious metals can act as a good indicator or what silver will do. However, with the current state of the economy, silver looks like it is going to do what it wants.

Holdings of the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) declined by 86.36 tonnes on the week but have gained 236.41 tonnes since July 1st when silver prices began rallying.

As we said above, silver has not kept pace with gold, probably because of the fact that industrial demand for silver has gone down a little due to the severe economic downturn.  Silver closed Wednesday at $39.39, up $1.58.  Silver began the year at $30.67 and is now up by $8.72 on the year returning investors a gain of 28.4%.

The SLV peaked in late April at the $50 level before prices corrected to the low 30's.  The SLV has had an average annualized total return of 25% over the past three years.

The iShares Silver Trust currently holds 314.2 million ounces of silver valued at $12 billion. Silver ETFs are still an excellent investment, as silver will be a very sought after precious metal for the foreseeable future.

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