Bloomberg – Hedge funds are betting on cheaper silver for the first time since at least 2006, splitting from investors accumulating close to the biggest hoard ever and the analyst consensus for prices to rebound from a bear market.
Speculators were the most bullish in two years as recently as October and now have a net-short position of 560 futures and options, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show. Holdings in exchange-traded products, valued at $14.5 billion, are within 1.3 percent of the all-time high reached mid-March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Silver, which entered a bear market on April 2 and plunged as much as 13 percent yesterday, will average $31.25 an ounce in the fourth quarter, or 32 percent more than now, based on the median of 14 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
