It’s been a volatile start to the year for the major market averages, with the Nasdaq 100 Index (QQQ) diving 10% from its highs, and many mega-tech names taking an abnormal beating. However, amid the turbulence, precious metals have managed to hold up quite well, giving up ground grudgingly and sitting just shy of positive performance year-to-date. This is a change of character from what some might be used to, with most 12-15% corrections in the Nasdaq causing a ripple effect, with weakness leaking into other assets.
At least for the time being, this is not the case for silver (SLV), which is down just 1% year-to-date, outperforming the Nasdaq 100 Index by more than 1000 basis points. Despite this outperformance, sentiment for silver continues to remain in the dumps, given that precious metals have been in an 18-month plus bear market. However, with a strong fundamental backdrop of negative real rates, I expect 2022 to be a much better year, especially when combined with the favorable technical picture for silver. Let’s take a look below:
