Silver (SI=F) prices surged to 13-year highs on Thursday, breaking above $35 per ounce amid uncertainty over President Trump's tariff policy and the continued decline of the US dollar.
Spot silver rose to climb above $35.90, its highest level since February 2012, while futures for July delivery (SI=F) jumped more than 4% to hover above $36 per troy ounce.
The move follows a recent resurgence in gold (GC=F) prices, which have been driven by trade policy uncertainty and continued central bank demand buying.
“The breakout has been brewing for a while,” Maria Smirnova, senior portfolio manager and chief investment officer at Sprott Asset Management, told Yahoo Finance on Thursday. “Silver had attempted to break through the $35 level a couple of times in recent months, so this is highly significant.”
“Furthermore, if the technical move catalyzes physical investor buying, it can take silver much higher very quickly,” she added.
The market for silver, sitting just above an estimated $2 trillion, is much smaller than gold's more than $22 trillion. That makes the volatility in silver prices up to two to three times greater than that of gold.
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The precious metal also has industrial uses, from electronics to automobile components to solar panels, making prices susceptible to any imbalance between supply and demand as the US moves to increase domestic manufacturing.
“We have been talking for a while about the supply/demand deficits in silver, since 2021 there has been a cumulative 800m oz draw and the deficits are projected to continue. Silver has a very positive investment case right now,” Smirnova said.
A falling US dollar index (DX-Y.NYB) has also sent the price of silver lower, given the inverse correlation between the greenback and precious metals.
The greenback has been under pressure in recent weeks amid weariness over increased fiscal US spending as capital shifts toward currencies and stocks abroad. Trump's proposed tax bill, which is said to raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, passed the House last month.
Year to date, silver is up more than 23%. Gold has risen 29% over the same period.
To be sure, StoneX head of market analysis Rhona O'Connell pointed out that silver is “notoriously volatile and it is fully capable of dropping” as sharply as it rises.
“This is not necessarily a false move,” O'Connell said, “but it is now heavily overbought and should, as always when silver does this sort of thing, be treated with caution.”
