Silver Is Outpacing Gold. That’s a Good Sign for the Global Economy.

By Myra P. Saefong

Silver has sharply outpaced gold’s gains in the past three months, and its classification as both an industrial and precious metal may lead it on a path to even higher prices.

From Oct. 31 to Jan. 31, Comex silver futures climbed nearly 25%, outpacing gold’s almost 19% climb, a “statistically unusual amount that shows the precious metals market is bullish on global economic growth in 2023,” wrote Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, in a Jan. 25 report.

He pointed out that silver is primarily an industrial metal, while gold is used mainly as an investment and for jewelry—so the better performance for silver prices supports the idea that the “global economy is in better shape than feared in mid-2022.” Colas attributes that primarily to China’s reopening and said that is “shaping up as a central investment theme” for the first months of this year.