Ted Butler: Silver's Bull Run — Price Drivers, Stocks, What's Next

Precious metals are wrapping up a record-setting week once again.

Silver was in the spotlight, pushing past US$46 per ounce, a price not seen since 2011. At that level, it's up about 55 percent year-to-date, a better performance than gold.

Still, gold's price activity is nothing to sneeze at. The yellow metal had another record-setting week, this time getting close to US$3,800 per ounce. It continues to see support from a variety of underlying factors, but turning heads this week was the news that China is looking to boost its position in the global gold market by becoming a custodian of foreign sovereign gold reserves.

People familiar with the matter said that in recent months the Asian nation has been approaching central banks in "friendly" countries with the aim of encouraging them to buy gold and store it in China. Experts see the move as yet another part of the de-dollarization trend.

If China is successful, foreign gold reserves would be held in custodian warehouses linked to the international board of the Shanghai Gold Exchange. The board was set up by the People's Bank of China in 2014, and is where foreign entities trade gold with Chinese counterparts.

Also relevant for gold this week were comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. During a Providence, Rhode Island, speech on Tuesday (September 23), he indicated that the central bank will take a cautious approach to interest rates after last week's 25 basis point cut.

The Fed has faced ongoing calls from US President Donald Trump to make bigger cuts more quickly, and while Powell continues to resist pressure, CME Group's (NASDAQ:CME) Fedwatch tool still shows that a reduction is highly likely at the Fed's October meeting.

With gold trading at or near all-time highs, a key question for investors is whether the price has more room to run. I've been speaking with a variety experts about that topic, and I encourage you to go check out the interviews on our YouTube channel to hear their full thoughts.

For now I'll sum up the view points I've been hearing most often.

First and foremost, the message I've been getting is that gold's run is not over — US$4,000, which once sounded like a fairly distant number, is now only US$200 to US$300 away, and many market watchers see it getting there by the end of the year, if not sooner.

Prices beyond US$4,000 are also being talked about as attainable.

There is of course a caveat, and that is that nothing can go straight up, including gold. Especially now after its rapid upward momentum, the broad consensus is that a correction is all but guaranteed, and perhaps soon. Here's how Steve Barton of In It To Win It explained it:

"I would be pretty shocked if we got up to US$4,000 and didn't have some type of corrective move. I suppose anything's possible — we blew through US$3,750, I didn't expect that. So maybe it'll go on up. But we're getting pretty stretched here."

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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.