(Bloomberg) -- Silver surged at the week’s open, with futures topping $29 an ounce, as the the Reddit-inspired frenzy that roiled stock markets last week spills over into commodities.
The spike came after retail sites were overwhelmed with demand for bars and coins on Sunday. Outlets including Apmex, the Walmart (NYSE:WMT) of precious metals products in North America, said they were unable to process orders until Asian markets open because of unprecedented consumption.
Silver futures ended almost 6% higher last week following a jump on Thursday and Friday amid Reddit-style enthusiasm from hordes of retail investors. Unlike the beaten-up stocks targeted in the stock market including GameStop Corp (NYSE:GME)., silver’s performed well over the past year, rallying more than 50% as the dollar fell and on expectations for a global recovery from the pandemic.
Silver futures gained as much as 8.1% to $29.095 an ounce on the Comex, and traded at $28.685 at 7:02 a.m. in Singapore. Gold futures also climbed.
Comments on silver began appearing on the Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets last week. People started egging each other on to pile into the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV), the metal’s largest exchange-traded product, saying banks have been keeping silver prices artificially low, masking an actual shortfall of supplies.
Some of the biggest Wall Street banks have been positive on silver’s outlook in recent months amid a broad upswing in raw materials. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS). described it as the “preferred precious metal,” according to a Jan. 27 note that had a price target of $30 an ounce.
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
