Silver stocks jumped on Thursday. Endeavour Silver up 5.8%; First Majestic Silver, Fortuna Silver Mines, Pan American Silver up over 4%; Silvercorp up over 2%.
Silver is looking unstoppable. That may be a good reason to steer clear.
Silver is up more than 200% in the past year, including a 34% gain in January, coming partly as President Donald Trump ramped up trade and military tensions with Europe over Greenland.
Now around $94 an ounce, silver isn’t just beating nearly every other commodity—it’s also cruising past gold, its bigger brother in the safety trade. Gold is up 74% over the past year, a respectable gain but far behind silver’s parabolic rise.
Silver does have a great story, and it isn’t entirely about being a haven.
Unlike gold, silver has lots of support as an industrial metal. It’s an excellent conductor of electricity. That makes silver a key component in electronics, including circuit boards, switches, and solar panels. While industrial uses accounted for just under half of silver demand a decade ago, today they’re 60%, according to Metals Focus, a London-based consulting firm.
Industrial demand is rising with new uses like electric vehicles, still going strong in China, Europe, and other regions. Booming electricity demand, fueled partly by data centers related to artificial intelligence, is also supporting silver.
Silver may also be subject to supply shortages. About three-fourths of new silver isn’t mined directly but rather is created as a byproduct of mining other metals such as lead, zinc, and copper. That means a rise in silver prices doesn’t immediately translate into increases in supply. Silver demand has outstripped supply every year since 2018. The deficit last year was 18%. Another shortfall is likely in 2026, according to Metals Focus managing director Philip Newman.
Those solid fundamentals, however, don’t come close to explaining silver’s rise. Nor are they likely to help much when the froth fizzles.
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