Phantasmix Stock Market Blog » • Commodities and mining

People’s Choice: Gold vs. Silver $GLD $SLV

Phantasmix — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:25:51 +0000

I haven’t looked at this in awhile: search term popularity according to Google.

Of course, a lot of the searches are for meDals, not meTals, especially during the Olympics. Still, gold is more popular lately, by about 20%:

Gold

Silver

Gold vs Silver Price Chart

Silver is the lagging black line with the price scale on the left.

$SLW Another Year, Another Covered Call, Plus a 3-Year Chart

Phantasmix — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:52:35 +0000

In July 2011 I wrote an in-the-money call against (SLW: 35.56 -0.28%) and it expired worthless last Friday. Hooray for me.

Time to write another one. Based on the chart below, I’m thinking of writing one that’s, again, in the money and maybe a year or two out. I think the stock price will be lower than today at some point which should give me a chance to buy the call back lower. And that kinda sucks ’cause I still have some free-floating, unprotected stock. Oh well.

Trying out a new chart style, monochrome. Red lines are the negatives, green – obviously – the positives.

And here’s a page from a 1934 catalog. I’m calling it “The Joys of Inflation, or See It and Weep”.

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Ian Telfer Talk, Toronto Jan 4 $GLD $GG

Phantasmix — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:44:26 +0000

Ian Telfer, Goldcorp CEO, will be at the MaRS center tomorrow, more info here.

This week come and hear Ian Telfer, Chairman of Goldcorp Inc. tell his entrepreneurial story. Mr. Telfer has over 30 years of experience as an officer and director of mining companies in Canada and abroad. In 2007, he was selected as Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year.

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$$ $SLV Cash for Silver, The Reveal

Phantasmix — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:02:36 +0000

I got 2 answers in the comments – thank you both for participating.

El Guapo said $425, and llman - $325. llman, you’re a pessimist!

I probably look naive or something, ’cause after seriously intense calculations, my “handler” looked me straight in the eye and said:

$400 even.

Having done my own math, I questioned that number. Also got a little mad, but spoke very calmly.

They have screens with live spot quotes all around, and use Buying and Selling prices, like with the currencies. At the time Buying price in CAD$ was $34.52.*

I showed her my logic on the calculator. Including their commission, my net came to $436, but she couldn’t let me have it and rounded down to $430. If it was a bigger amount, I would’ve questioned it, but ok… whatever.

The answer: $430.

5-12% of silver is lost during smelting so I figure they made about $70-120 on this transaction.

* Selling price was around $38.40.

$$ Sold Scrap Silver for Cash, Photos from Refinery

Phantasmix — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 20:49:51 +0000

I had some silver laying around and thought I’d do something with it. So I split everything into piles and took it to the refinery this morning.

sterling silver rings and settings, 312g
sterling wire scrap from my heady days of jewelry making, 101g
sterling jewelry with inset enamel, 104g

Total weight – approximately 517g

I really didn’t have to break it up like this. You might have to do it if you take your metal to one of the trading/middleman places.

But I went directly to a refinery. They melt everything together, to avoid checking each piece individually and then they measure the purity of this combined bar.

My stuff being weighed

Without plastic bags and a couple of magnetic pieces, total weight came to 511g. After melting, I got a 501g bar with 93.52% purity (higher than sterling because I had some 99% wire in there).

Pouring my bar. The whole melting process took 3-5 minutes at most.

How much $$$ do you think I should’ve gotten? Answer tomorrow!

Precious Metals Spot Prices

$SLV vs $GLD Comparison Chart

Phantasmix — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:00:04 +0000

Gold is less volatile. Because silver is such a thin market (?)

Click to enlarge

Japan, This and That

Phantasmix — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 03:30:12 +0000

Somewhat cynical, but pretty sure I’m not unique with this line of thinking:
The level of destruction in Japan can be compared to after-war conditions.
Which should be a boon to the economy, in a most basic sense. Everything has to be re-built. All raw materials should go up. And whoever makes bulldozers will benefit (Toyota?).

As for 75% of the rice fields being flooded, it shouldn’t have a huge effect on rice prices, at least outside Japan. They only produce about 5% of world’s rice: not much land there.

• Donate to Canadian Red Cross

• Japanese live TV in English

• Japanese construction stocks surge

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$$ US Dollar vs. Gold 3-Year Chart $GLD

Phantasmix — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 05:30:11 +0000

Here’s a 3-year daily chart showing that even when the U.S. dollar went up temporarily, the gold kept creeping higher. It’s in a bull market, you see.

And check out the lines I drew. Price is in an uptrending channel, and has room to run.

I won’t be making any claims as to the extent of the up move in precious metals. Just watching the currency policies in the U.S. and reserve the right to change my opinion at any time.

In the chart: $USD US Dollar index, GLD gold ETF. Black line is GLD.
Click to enlarge

$$ Silver/Gold Ratio

Phantasmix — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 00:07:19 +0000

If Wikipedia is to be believed, then “The average gold/silver ratio during the 20th century was 1:47″.

As of today

Gold spot $1,432 : Silver spot $34 = 42:1.
Not too out of whack.

But what’s really interesting, until mid 19th century (confirmed with sources other than Wiki) the average ratio was 16, which translates into $87.50 silver price today.

Historical gold/silver ratio

$SLW Potential Upside, 2013 Stock Price

Phantasmix — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 23:43:00 +0000

I feel like doing some math today:

Silver Wheaton should have 40,000,000 ounces of silver to sell in 2013
Their cost is $5/oz
With spot at $34 like today, that’s $29/oz profit, or $1.16B
With 346MM shares outstanding, earnings would be $3.35 per
At a modest 20 P/E (yes, modest for the sector and for their business model), share price would be $67

Currently at (SLW: 35.56 -0.28%)

Phantasmix Stock Market Blog » • Commodities and mining

People’s Choice: Gold vs. Silver $GLD $SLV

Gold

Silver

Gold vs Silver Price Chart

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$SLW Another Year, Another Covered Call, Plus a 3-Year Chart

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Ian Telfer Talk, Toronto Jan 4 $GLD $GG

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$$ $SLV Cash for Silver, The Reveal

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$$ Sold Scrap Silver for Cash, Photos from Refinery

Precious Metals Spot Prices

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$SLV vs $GLD Comparison Chart

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Japan, This and That

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$$ US Dollar vs. Gold 3-Year Chart $GLD

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$$ Silver/Gold Ratio

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