Since the beginning of 2017 the silver price has disappointed many investors. With a 5% gain so far in 2017, it has failed to match gold’s 11% gains this year. Both precious metals have ultimately performed below expectations given the positive macroeconomic and geopolitical backdrop. However, things are starting to look up for the industrial precious metal as industry observers believe it will outperform gold this quarter and into 2018.

Though Comex metal "delivery" remains a sham and circle jerk where The Banks simply shuffle paper warehouse receipts and warrants, we thought the latest totals for September were noteworthy enough to bring them to your attention. Again, we've written about this on countless occasions and this post is not meant to imply that "the Comex is about to break" or that "there is a run on The Banks". Instead, September saw the continuation of two trends of which you need to be aware. Comex "deliveries" are up dramatically in 2017 and JPM continues to stand down.

Let us return to the real issue at hand, the questions that went begging about monetary policy. More confident central bankers in control of their brief might have said something about it, if only in passing. But with Ms Yellen we have a problem. If, as she claims, the Fed has cured America of financial crises, why hasn’t the Fed normalised interest rates already? Even on the US Government’s heavily-sedated consumer price index, inflation is at the Fed’s target, as are its highly-questionable unemployment numbers. Interest rates should already be normalised, which means they ought to be considerably higher than they are today.

We cannot remember seeing prices in the precious metals this calm for a few days. As we have said before Shanghai has had a calming effect on global gold markets, but even its calmness is remarkable. It is not that we expect anything dramatic from Jackson Hole but in such a calm market, any news at all, will have an impact.