Potential for Silver to spike above $50 says Forbes

In an article on Forbes.com, author Robert Lenzner reveals the possibility that silver could "spike to $50" due to possible "violations to the Commodity Exchange Act". From the article:

As a result of Chilton’s public statement, several individual investors brought lawsuits against JP Morgan and HSBC, claiming they lost money on positions they took in silver futures on the Comex. One such suit claims that in August, 2008 JP Morgan and HSBC controlled over 85% of the commercial net short position in COMEX silver futures, and that this represented a short interest of 169 million troy ounces of silver, equal to about 25% of annual world mine production.

The author describes recent speculation that JP Morgan and HSBC have been manipulating the silver market:

“For months and in some cases years, conspiracy theorists and market pundits have been speculating about the manipulation of the silver market by large banks, including JP Morgan and HSBC,” Thangavel wrote today. “Recently, these theories have been given significant weight as CFTC Commissioner Bart Chilton stated his belief that the silver market was being manipulated.” Chilton stated that “there have been fraudulent efforts to persuade and deviously control” prices in the silver market, which “should be prosecuted.”

This manipulation of the silver market has the potential of causing phenomenal gains in silver. In the weeks before the article was written, silver had seen a price jump from $18 to $30 per ounce:

A chart of silver prices shows that silver in recent weeks has outshone the rise in gold prices by jumping 50% from around $18 to nearly $30 and then backed off to $27.16 today. This extraordinary increase in the price of silver suggests that short covering might explain part of the gain.

The original article can be found here.

This material is for informational purposes only. Although it is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, Leland National Gold does not guarantee its accuracy, or being all-inclusive. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. There are risks in buying and selling physical metals. The potential for loss as well as gain increases by leveraging physical precious metals transactions. Never trade with more money than you can afford to lose, and always be sure to read the Risk Disclosure provided in your account documents.

J.P. Morgan Chase accepts physical gold as collateral

J.P. Morgan Chase & co recently announced that it will accept physical gold bullion as collateral "for investors that want to make short-term borrowings of cash or securities"
Apparantly, they aren't the first one to jump on the bandwagon. From the article:

Presenting gold to satisfy demands for performance bond collateral has been allowed on the London CME in a limited way since October 2009. As of November 22, 2010, the Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) has accepted gold bullion as collateral on all credit default swaps and energy transactions.
I don't recall the G-20 declaring gold a new currency. Yet JPMorgan Chase and a couple of financial market exchanges have effectively declared that gold is an alternative currency.
In other words, gold is money.

The original article can be found here

This material is for informational purposes only. Although it is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, Leland National Gold does not guarantee its accuracy, or being all-inclusive. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. There are risks in buying and selling physical metals. The potential for loss as well as gain increases by leveraging physical precious metals transactions. Never trade with more money than you can afford to lose, and always be sure to read the Risk Disclosure provided in your account documents.

Standard Bank's Ikemizu predicts silver at $40

In an article on Bloomberg, Bruce Ikemizu describes how new applications for silver will fuel demand pushing silver to prices as high as $40 in 2011. Quoted from the article:

'Silver, the leading performer in metals this year, is likely to repeat its success in 2011, reaching $40 an ounce on new applications and industry demand, said the head of commodity trading in Japan at Standard Bank Plc.'

'The precious metal will likely outpace next year’s gains in gold, which should surpass $1,500 an ounce, and palladium, Bruce Ikemizu said today in an interview in Tokyo. “Unexpected” new applications for silver, such as in solar batteries, and industrial use that underpins 80 percent of demand, make the metal attractive to “a lot of famous investors, especially in the U.S.,” Ikemizu said, without giving more details.'

The original article can be found here

This material is for informational purposes only. Although it is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, Leland National Gold does not guarantee its accuracy, or being all-inclusive. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. There are risks in buying and selling physical metals. The potential for loss as well as gain increases by leveraging physical precious metals transactions. Never trade with more money than you can afford to lose, and always be sure to read the Risk Disclosure provided in your account documents.