CostOfPalladium.com

#html-body [data-pb-style=GRSSN3S]{justify-content:flex-start;display:flex;flex-direction:column;background-position:left top;background-size:cover;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-attachment:scroll} Silver Establishment Warns of Another Coming Silver Squeeze Gold and silver prices moved higher last week, driven largely by geopolitical headlines around a temporary ceasefire in the Middle East, which boosted overall market sentiment. Spot silver closed the week at $80.79 per ounce, while spot gold finished at $4,830 per ounce, with the gold-to-silver ratio tightening further to 59, signaling relative strength in silver. Markets reacted positively after Iran stated the Strait of Hormuz would remain open during the ceasefire, sending crude oil prices down more than 10%, though shipping data suggests actual traffic remains limited. Lower energy prices are reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve may pause or cut interest rates, a scenario that typically weakens the U.S. dollar and supports demand for non-yielding assets like gold and silver. Former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson warned of a potential “vicious” U.S. bond market crisis, citing concerns over weakening demand for Treasuries amid the country’s growing debt burden. The U.S. debt situation remains a central risk, with nearly $10 trillion needing refinancing this year at significantly higher interest rates than in past crises, increasing pressure on the financial system. The Treasury has already stepped in with large-scale debt purchases—around $30 billion in April alone—highlighting growing strain in maintaining bond market stability. On the supply side, the Silver Institute’s latest report confirms ongoing global silver deficits, with demand continuing to outpace supply and contributing to tightening market conditions. Analysts and mainstream financial media are increasingly warning of a potential new silver squeeze, noting shrinking inventories, elevated premiums in Asia, and structurally thinner liquidity in the market. Structural differences between gold and silver markets remain key: unlike gold, silver lacks central bank support, making it more vulnerable to volatility but also more prone to sharp upside moves if supply shortages intensify. Bullion prices climb on Middle East ceasefire optimism, mounting U.S. debt concerns spark bond market warnings, and tightening silver supply fuels growing expectations of another silver squeeze. Last Week's Gold and Silver Market Update The silver and gold markets where up on the week's peace-talk headlines. The spot silver price ended the week at $80.79 oz bid. The spot gold price closed the week at $4830 oz bid. The spot gold silver ratio fell again to close this week at 59. Silver and gold rallied on the week with silver returning to trading above $80 oz for the first time in about a month. Financial markets rallied this week on Iran's announcing the Strait of Hormuz is "completely open" to commercial shipping vessels for the duration of a 10-day Lebanon ceasefire. Crude oil dropped more than 10% on the news. Optimistic headlines aside, shipping vessel traffic data to end this week show little to no ships have actually passed through the Strait. Lower energy costs suggest it being more likely the fiat Fed will hold interest rates steady or start cutting rates, which means the the fiat US dollar will weaken, and non-yielding assets like silver and gold bullion become more attractive to investors. Former US Treasury Secretary during the 2008 Financial Crisis was out this week trial balloon conditioning investors for coming US debt market dysfunctions. Suggesting the fiat financial powers that be begin preparing for a "vicious' bond market crash. The US Treasury again bout $15 billion of our debt today, tying the largest tranche of our own debt ever purchased in open market operations. They also bought another $15 billion in our own US debt to start this month April 2026. About 1/4 of outstanding US debt has to be refinanced this year yet this time, interest rates are 3.75% as compared to 0% after the 2008 GFC and Covid 2020 era. Close to $10 trillion of our now near $40 trillion hard US debt pile needs to be rolled over and obviously the US Treasury is already having to  step in to make the bond market function. You can expect in coming 'vicious' US bond bear market to continue seeing further calls to begin overhauling Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other unfunded liability programs which add on another near $100 trillion in future obligations for the nation on top of the near $40 trillion debt pile. One of the most important differentiators between this ongoing bullion bull market versus the 1980 version is the sheer amount of un-payable debt and promise pile loads coming due in the years and decades looking ahead. This is partly why being aggressively allocated in bullion makes perhaps more sense than ever prior in our lifetimes. Silver market industry body the Silver Institute published their annual World Silver Survey this past week projecting further supply deficits for this year 2026. Seemingly every mainstream financial media published articles explicitly citing silver supplies remain in short supply vs ongoing industrial and investment demand. A few even went so far as explicitly stating in their article headlines, that yet another supply and silver price squeeze risk remains to the upside in the coming future. We're going to take a closer look at that report after this brief message.  Silver premiums in Shanghai have stayed elevated near $90 oz to close this week's trading. Inventories on the SHFE and SGE continue climbing with a now combined 30.9 million oz. To put that amount in perspective, 31 million oz is enough to cover one and half years of internal industrial silver used for their country's ongoing automobile demand. Lease rates in London for the three white precious metals (silver, platinum, and palladium) had been falling but with the recent strength in the silver spot price we saw an increase in one month London silver lease rates to close this week. Suggesting the recent downward trend might be turning. Even mainstream financial media this week were again warning about a key differentiator when comparing the silver market versus gold, with silver there are no central bank backstops, only weak handed unsecured ETFs which in selloffs can temporarily increase silver industrial bar supplies for the short term. Asian financial media citing this week that the next liquidity storm for silver will likely be born by empty vaults. The two largest wildcards of further silver ETF demand inflows and coming Indian silver demand the second half this year. The Silver Institute's annual report stated point blank, "The (Silver) market has clearly entered an era of reduced stocks. Tightness will not be constant, but liquidity will generally be thinner, lease rates more volatile & price moves likely to be larger than investors have grown used to. With deficits set to remain in place, however, it is unlikely that we will see a return to the previous status quo any time soon." When you add in net Silver ETF demand since 2019 and ongoing silver demand outstripping annual supplies the deficit number balloons to near 1.4 billion oz.  And there is low to no sign of this trend stopping anytime soon, rather what we are now seeing is even the silver establishment admit another coming silver squeeze seems all but inevitable. That will be all for this week's bullion market update.   Sources: Former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson comments on bond market on Bloomberg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQY_h48GbQM

CFTC Chairman to Examine National Security Risks from Concentration of Precious Metals Depositories in NYC Selig agreed to study vulnerabilities like natural disasters or terrorist attacks and work toward greater market resilience. Jp Cortez Fri, 04/17/2026 - 10:00

CFTC Chairman to Examine National Security Risks from Concentration of Precious Metals Depositories in NYC Selig agreed to study vulnerabilities like natural disasters or terrorist attacks and work toward greater market resilience. Jp Cortez Fri, 04/17/2026 - 09:15

The Big 8 Commercial Shorts Continue to Cover Including all theirs, the derivatives/paper held in the precious metals...mostly on the short side...is an eye-watering 2+ Trillion dollar number which can never be covered, either in the paper market, or through the delivery of physical metal...without driving the prices of all four precious metals beyond the moon in the process. Ed Steer Sat, 04/11/2026 - 07:16

#html-body [data-pb-style=LHQM35M]{justify-content:flex-start;display:flex;flex-direction:column;background-position:left top;background-size:cover;background-repeat:no-repeat;background-attachment:scroll} Gold Demand, Energy Crisis & Global Reset Signals Emerge Gold and silver markets finished the week largely unchanged, masking underlying geopolitical volatility tied to escalating tensions around Iran and disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Spot prices held firm at historically elevated levels, with gold price near $4,673/oz and silver at $73/oz, reinforcing the broader bullish structure despite short-term stagnation. Energy market dislocations—particularly constrained oil flows—are increasingly viewed as a systemic threat, with some analysts warning of cascading global economic contraction if supply remains impaired. The macro backdrop continues to tilt toward stagflation, with rising input costs and weakening growth raising concerns not only about recession, but also food insecurity in vulnerable regions. China remains a dominant force in physical demand, with strong bullion accumulation and tight domestic silver inventories reinforcing structural supply deficits. A generational shift in investor psychology is emerging in the East, with younger buyers allocating significantly higher portions of their portfolios to physical gold and silver as protection against currency debasement and systemic risk. Western investor behavior contrasts sharply with Eastern demand: while ETFs and leveraged participants are exiting, physical metal continues to migrate toward Asia and the Middle East. Commodity bull market dynamics are reasserting themselves, as oil and precious metals trend higher together—historically a signal of late-cycle economic stress. Turkey’s aggressive gold mobilization and large-scale silver imports highlight growing sovereign and institutional stress in currency markets, alongside a scramble for hard assets. COMEX inventories continue to decline, particularly in silver, signaling ongoing physical drawdowns and a potential weakening of Western price discovery mechanisms. Geopolitical tensions, shifting bullion flows, and rising institutional support for gold point to a major financial turning point. The silver and gold markets where slightly on the week even with a Trump Iranian War update smash. The spot silver price ended the week at $73.04 oz bid. The spot gold price closed the week basically flat at $4673 oz bid. The spot gold silver ratio laid flat to close this week again at 64. The Strait of Hormuz continues essentially being shutdown, and thus explicit warnings of a coming collapse of the global economy are being hammered home by the likes of Luke Growmen and Richard Werner who were on the popular Patrick Bet David podcast this past week. First quarter of 2026 is behind us, gold and even volatile silver still closed green. My game plan has not changed, still acquiring silver bullion oz on recent price weakness. It was about one year ago, that the TRUMP regime's tariff fiasco kicked off a -17% drop in spot silver prices and we are still twice the spot price of those days. All the following precious commodities have been extremely historically volatile to start this year. Perhaps none more so then crude oil itself, still a lifeblood energy source for the world economy. While the financial markets seem to be tracking trends toward stagflation, less economic growth with higher prices for the things we need, I'm starting to worry about starvation given issues with fertilizer supply chains, especially in parts of the most underdeveloped world. We have of course seen stagflation in many older people's lifetimes. From 1972 through 1975 a confluence of contributing events led to the starvation of an estimated 2 million people.  industry colleague Jesse Colombo points out it is common in many commodity bull markets to see oil and precious metals rise in concert.  The 2007-2008 oil spike and GFC fallouts surely attributed to global hunger and malnutrition in the developed world as well, here at home. Eras of food scarcity is a common problem throughout history, our present day is not immune. Precious metals industry data illustrates that momentum traders have pretty much vanished from the gold market. Collapsing COMEX NYMEX trading volumes in gold, silver, and platinum are a good sign levered short term tourists have up'd and gone elsewhere. Weak handed Western world unsecured gold investors have been selling, cutting and running, near 100 ton ouflow of late, nearly what has been reported Turkey has been forced to sell and or swap from their Official Gold Reserves of late to raise other fiat FX to defend their local currency markets under continued pressure. 118 tons in the last two weeks. In only the first two months of this year, Turkey has already imported over 20 million oz of silver, a substantial amount silver market deficit hawks likely didn't have on their Q1 2026 bingo cards. For a perspective of how much that is, Metals Focus estimated the Chinese silver bullion investors bought a bit less, near 18 million oz for all of last year 2025. A local 13% VAT on silver didn't stop many from taking part in the latest silver bull moves. Generally when you think of China's silver demand it is mostly industrial manufacturing purposes using around 275 million oz of silver per year mostly into manufacturing.  They also estimated China bought over 400 tons or near 13 million oz of gold bullion, opting for investment gold bars and coins over VAT taxed high grade gold jewelry, that is the ongoing trend in China. Staying on China and they're still ten year low levels of industrial silver inventories on the SGE SHFE. Prices for silver, platinum, and palladium all remain highly elevated in China compared to Western price benchmarks, with just a bit more silver inventories than was bought by local investors in all of last year according to Metals Focus estimates. The continued collapses in COMEX registered and eligible silver piles on goes US State side. About 1/2 of the gold that came onshore from Trump tariff threats has seen it's way offshore Almost all the excess silver that came flying in early last year has either exported or been loaded out and physically pulled from the COMEX system domestically. Feb 2026 silver import export data says, thanks Mexico for near 300 tons, off to the City of London, the Middle East, Asia, and north to Canada for the most part last month. Early this week CNBC International has Julius Baer Chief Investment Officer on the show.  Accumulate Gold Now: Julius Baer’s CIO recommends buying gold at current levels, calling recent price behavior “counterintuitive” and an overlooked opportunity. Liquidity, Not Weakness, Drove Selling: Recent gold selling was likely driven by investors needing cash during global uncertainty—not a breakdown in gold’s fundamentals. Favor Physical Over Paper: He emphasizes owning physical gold as the primary strategy, while using paper gold and options tactically to capitalize on high volatility. Staying in Asian gold silver related news this week, Singapore and Hong Kong both continue with ambitions of growing their precious metals market service options as well as looking to attract even central bank reserves in their growing market service offerings.    This final clip is more on the local retail mindset, specifically the younger investor generations in the East. High Conviction Allocation: Bellina allocates 25% of her portfolio to gold and silver—far above the traditional 5–10%—with a target split of roughly 15% gold and 10% silver. Long-Term Protection Strategy: She views precious metals not for short-term gains, but as a hedge against systemic financial risks, US dollar currency debasement, and long-term structural changes in the global economy. Bullish on Metals Amid Uncertainty: Despite volatility, she remains committed, citing declining confidence in fiat currencies and believing gold is in a multi-year bull trend driven by macro instability. It seems some have already somehow learned that a 25% bullion position has mathematically backtested as the best risk reward allocation using data going all the way back to 1968, when the last London gold price rig system failed. The often cited far too low suggestion of 5 to 10% gold is literally some trope from the early 1980s bullion bear market. In a world of collapsing bond values and unpayable debt and promise piles galore, you're gonna want a lot more bullion owned outright. Have a look at this condensed bullion investor profile out of Singapore. Cited Sources: Backtesting Bullion Allocation Percentages Study https://sdbullion.com/backtesting-bullion-allocation-percentages-1968-2016 Accumulate more gold at current levels: Julius Baer CIO https://youtu.be/zXYm26TQDxk?si=jnuoo--eqoo5jc-G This Gen Z Investor Put 25% Into Gold & Silver - Is That Too Much? | Money Mind | Singapore https://youtu.be/8suWYW2ZfNY?si=TEanOTdNwPkx4CZB

Slowdown in Electric Vehicle Transition Boosts Platinum Group Metal Optimism Platinum surged by 92 percent in 2025, and palladium gained 65 percent. However, an expected decline in gasoline-powered vehicle production has hung over the industry... Mike Maharrey Fri, 03/27/2026 - 09:37