Donald Trump Presidency and Silver Prices

Donald Trump’s victory was an unexpected situation in the United States and the entire world. As he progressed towards victory and when he was declared President-Elect, a shock wave came across the globe and to the global financial system, as just a day ago, all the media reports and pre-polls had predicted the win for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. And this was reflected at all the major stock exchanges globally, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index plunged 5.4%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed 2.2% lower, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 300 Index fell nearly 2%. All of Europe’s major bourses were also lower. The blue-chip Dow Jones futures were down 750 points overnight. S&P 500 futures also plunged by nearly 40 points.

This global negative sentiment about Trump’s victory triggered a huge buying interest of the investors in precious metals like silver, gold, which rose across the globe. In the United States, December silver futures advanced 40 cents, or 2.2%, to $18.76 a troy ounce in the early morning the next day. The grey metal traded above $19 for the first time since September.

Now Republicans will control the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives. This will remove the uncertainty which investors have feared. And this may sound bearish for silver prices in the year 2017. Hence double-digit gains for the precious metal next year are very much possible. These glimpses can be seen in silver prices performance post-election results; no doubt, global market cues did play a role. The economic experts say Trump presidency combined with Republican control of the other two branches will be good for the price of silver.

As promised during the campaign, if Trump pushes hard through some of his promised policies, such as corporate tax cuts, it would go a long way to stimulate manufacturing. And that would boost the need for silver in electronics and other high-added-value products. This will raise industrial demand for silver. Roughly 70% of consumed silver ends up in industrial applications and renewable energy products like solar panels. Silver consumption in the solar panels alone is expected to swell from 20 million ounces to 185 million ounces annually within a decade. That’s huge, at nearly 20% of the total current demand for the grey precious metal. Trump’s opinions against climate change hoax will not affect renewable growth is what the political experts say affirmatively.  In a nutshell, Trumps Presidency will help silver shine more.

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