Nearby COMEX silver futures settled at $24.04 per ounce on December 31, 2022, and posted a 2.95% gain last year. In Q1 2023, the metal settled slightly higher at the $24.156 level, up 0.46% for the three months. After the first three weeks of Q2 2023, silver probed above $26 per ounce and was at the $25.058 level on Friday, April 21.
The volatile silver futures market reached a pandemic-inspired bottom at $11.735 per ounce in March 2020, the lowest price since January 2009. Silver has not traded below $10 since December 2008. In February 2021, nearby silver futures prices reached $30.16, the highest since February 2013, before running out of upside steam. At $25 per ounce on April 21, silver has been in a bullish trend since September 2022, when the price reached a $17.32 per ounce low. In my Q1 2023 quarterly precious metals review on Barchart, I wrote, “In a world where asset prices have suffered from rising interest rates, inflation, and geopolitical turmoil, gold, silver, and platinum group metals could continue to offer a safe harbor for investors and traders over the coming months and years.”
