Money and Metals

Bloomberg reports on an interesting day in the markets. "Silver prices in New York surged 9.3 percent, the biggest gain in 11 years, on speculation investor demand will grow as Barclays Plc began offering an exchange-traded fund backed by the metal. Silver futures for May delivery jumped $1.17 to $13.76 at 1:05 p.m. A close at that price would mark the biggest gain since March 1995."

"Barclays offered 50,000 shares of its iShares Silver Trust, each representing 10 ounces of silver. The fund rose $8.02 to $138.02 on the American Stock Exchange. 'Most of this is new buying for the exchange-traded fund,' said Daniel Vaught, a commodities analysts at A.G. Edwards. 'That is playing a role in strengthening the market.'"

"Gold futures surged to a new 25-year high on a falling dollar and worries over Iran's atomic program on Friday. June delivery gold was up $16.70, or 2.55 percent, at $653 per ounce 12:11 p.m. EDT, trading in a range of $634 to $655.50, a new contract high."

"Strong oil and base metals prices and uncertainty over the U.S. economy fueled waves of aggressive investor buying across the precious metals group, dealers said. 'I think gold has kind of taken on a leadership role,' Steve Platt, a broker in Chicago, said, adding that the yellow metal also was benefiting from a weak dollar. 'People for a long time had not been interested in the precious metals to any big degree, but now you have started to see them look at them once again as a flight to quality in terms of asset diversification,' Platt said."