Physical Silver & Borrowing Costs Explained

Silver is the story today, with news across the Twittersphere of wealthy investors across Europe demanding physical silver from wealth managers instead of paper silver products such as silver-based ETFs. Silver price is up 3.7% for the week to $23.91, gold is up $2 to $1,832, platinum is up 3.5% to $1,025, and palladium is up 2.3% to $2,010.

Since a year ago today, gold has been down a fraction, silver is down 5.3%, platinum is down 6.1%, and palladium is off 15.3%.

The financial media is reporting the highest German bond yields since 2019, with the 10-yr German Bond yielding 0.013%. It is the first time since May of 2019 the yield has been above 0%, reflecting a drop in the price of these bonds as inflation wreaks havoc worldwide. Though nominally positive, this yield (like US Treasury yields) is still negative in real terms due to inflation.

Mortgage rates have also risen for the fourth month in a row in the United States, reaching the highest levels in 2 years. Gold as a family savings vehicle has been shown useful in helping children obtain housing in the future, despite inflation and higher interest rates on loans.