Commodities
Hot Commodity Silver Outpaces Gold as Buying Gains Momentum
- Ratio to gold suggests cheaper metal has scope to extend climb
- Global market on course for fourth straight year of shortages
Silver has a dual character, valued both for its uses as a financial asset and an industrial input, including clean-energy technologies.
Photographer: Brendon Thorne/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Gold’s record-setting rally may have captured the headlines this year, but it’s silver that’s running harder and faster as the less glamorous metal benefits from robust financial and industrial demand.
Silver has soared by more than a quarter this year, outpacing gold and making it one of the year’s best-performing major commodities. Yet in relative terms, silver is still cheap. It currently takes about 80 ounces of silver to buy 1 ounce of gold, compared with the 20-year average of 68.