Top Stories This Week: Silver Goes Mainstream, What’s Next for the Price?

Gold was on the decline again this week — it took a brief fall below the US$1,800 per ounce level on Thursday (February 4) after beginning the period in the US$1,860 to US$1,870 range.

The yellow metal started the year well above US$1,900, and market watchers have blamed its downward trajectory this week on a rising US dollar and higher Treasury yields.

Of course, this week the real story was again in silver. As we discussed previously, the white metal came into the spotlight last week after members of the Reddit forum WallStreetBets began looking for short squeeze opportunities beyond GameStop (NYSE:GME).

One early Reddit post on the subject (which has now been deleted) described the silver market as one of the most manipulated in the world.

However, it didn’t take long for the situation to change. Last weekend, WallStreetBets users started distancing themselves from silver, saying it was a distraction from GameStop. Some even suggested that hedge funds that had lost money on GameStop could be responsible for the posts on silver.

At INN we’ve been doing our best to keep up with this quickly developing situation, and so far we’ve heard from a number of experts on what the impact could be for silver.

The responses have been wide ranging — Lobo Tiggre of IndependentSpeculator.com told investors to be careful and focus on the long-term fundamentals behind silver, not potentially short-term hype.

“This is my bottom line … the fundamentals were fantastic for gold and silver before this happened — none of that’s changed. If this whole Reddit thing turns into a brief flash in the pan … it doesn’t change the fundamentals” — Lobo Tiggre, Independent Speculator

Meanwhile, Chris Marcus of Arcadia Economics said he feels that something in the system has broken or is breaking, and now is the time to be in silver.

Chris also suggested that silver manipulation has now gone mainstream, and with that in mind, we asked our Twitter followers this week if they believe the market is manipulated.

By the time the poll closed, an impressive 95 percent of respondents had given a “yes” answer. With over 1,000 participants, this was one of our most popular weekly polls so far — a testament to the widespread attention on the silver market right now.

We’ll be asking another question on Twitter next week, so make sure to follow us @INN_Resource or follow me @Charlotte_McL to share your thoughts.

In the cannabis space this week, INN took a look at a change in Australia’s rules on CBD products — pharmacists in the country are now able to sell low-dose CBD products over the counter.

“The race is now on to get products in the market as quickly and cost effectively as possible, assuming companies are able to overcome the challenge of proving efficacy” — Cassandra Hunt, FreshLeaf Analytics

Companies are pleased with the change because it should make it easier for them to get their products to consumers; that said, it’s worth noting that no CBD products have yet been approved for sale.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.

Editorial Disclosure: The Investing News Network does not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the information reported in the interviews it conducts. The opinions expressed in these interviews do not reflect the opinions of the Investing News Network and do not constitute investment advice. All readers are encouraged to perform their own due diligence.