Silver Report

Market Performance _____ LAST YTD % 3-MTH  6-MTH  9 MTH  1 YR SI 35.955 +15.81% +25.25% +80.17% +93.83% +109.39% GC 1,429.1 +0.28% +2.93% +14.24% +15.98% +27.91% PL 1,802.0 +1.00% +6.90% +15.81% +16.30% +12.93% CT 206.78 +48.54% +59.45% +130.32% +157.83% +166.99%

Because of its role as both an industrial material and an investment vehicle,
Silver continues to be the best performer in the metals complex. Only cotton, because of weather related issues, has posted better returns.
There are a couple of theories floating around that attempt to explain this move.

The "Short Squeeze":

CFTC Bank Participation Reports As you see in these reports, as of 03.01.11

banks were were net short approximately 30,000 silver futures contracts. The option reports shows that banks were holding bearish options positions: short calls and long puts.
The shortsqueeze.com link shows the SLV ETF has a short interest position of 17,631,300 shares.

http://www.google.com/search for silver short squeeze stories

Dwindling Stocks:

COMEX Silver Inventories at a 5 year low

The backwardation structure of the price curve shows how tight silver supplies are.


Market Manipulation:
CFTC Manipulation Investigations


Supply/Demand discussion from Silverseek.com