Worries about inflation continue to weaken the dollar and send gold and silver to new highs. In today’s trading, the front-month contract for Silver settled up $1.597, or 3.4%, at $46.062 per troy ounce — a 31-year high according to the Wall Street Journal.
The high water mark for Silver was set at $50.360 in 1980 when the Hunt brothers from Texas attempted to corner the silver market. In contrast to the 1980 price spike, the recent run-up has been a steady rise in concert with a falling dollar and rising gold prices. Some investors view silver as a lower cost alternative to gold for precious metals exposure.
The leading silver ETF is the $16 billion iShares Silver Trust (SLV). The exchange traded fund is designed to reflect the price of silver less expenses by buying and holding silver bullion. The sponser’s fee for SLV is 0.50%.
An alternative silver ETF is the ETFS Physical Silver Shares (SIVR) which is also intended to provide investors with a return equivalent to movements in the silver spot price less fees. The expense ratio for SIVR is 0.30%.
For a complete list of commodity ETFs, please visit the ETF Directory.
– ETF MarketPro Staff
April 21, 2011