RE: The SEC has approved Silver ETF's!!!Barclays' Silver ETF Takes One Giant Leap for Bull-kind
By Jon A. Nones
25 Jan 2006 at 04:08 PM EST
St. LOUIS (ResourceInvestor.com) -- After months of waiting, wondering and anticipating, Barclays proposed silver ETF, iShares Silver Trust, officially made some headway at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) late last night – and silver bulls took notice. With no word since its submission in June, the SEC today advanced the silver ETF one step forward.
March silver finished up 28.2 cents, or 3.1%, at $9.51 an ounce, but traded as high as $9.54 - a level not seen since mid-1987. Resource Investor contacted Christine Hudacko, advisor at Barclays Global Investors, for the scoop.
“The SEC has made one decision on the product,” she said.
According to Hudacko, the SEC informed Barclays last night that it had approved the AMEX listing of iShares Silver Trust and initiated the 21-day public comment period.
However, Hudacko made it clear that this does not mean the silver ETF has been approved or indicate that the SEC has established any sort of timeline.
“This is indicative of movement at the SEC, but we are not at a point where a launch date can be determined,” she said, reiterating that there is no time limit for this process.
The next step, Hudacko said, will entail answering questions submitted by the SEC about the product.
“The SEC will either have questions about the product or they will reach their conclusion,” she said.
Hudacko previously told Resource Investor that “it’s a slow process, and even when you’re going through the process, it’s hard to guess.” But she concluded today by saying that once Barclays gets the word, it will release the product ASAP.
Not so fast, says the Silver Users Association (SUA).
Executive Director Paul Miller told RI today that the SUA has plans to fully utilize this 21-day public comment period to get its point across to the SEC – and the point is ‘no go.’
“We are going to produce a statement for the SEC,” he confirmed, but could not supply a date or give any information in advance.
To recap, the SUA represents the interests of companies that make, sell and distribute products and services related to silver. The Association’s members process 80% of all silver used in the United States.
Miller previously told Resource Investor that the silver ETF would remove so much physical silver that it would have a negative impact on industry-specific companies.
“So much silver would be taken out of the market place, which in turn, means higher costs to companies that use silver,” he said.
Today, Miller said that the SUA has spent a lot of time trying to educate its members and the public about these concerns. Now it’s time to communicate these concerns to the SEC, he said.
But David Morgan, independent precious metals analyst and author of “The Morgan Report,” told RI that the announcement implies that the SEC is indeed moving ahead with the ETF.
“The Wall Street Examiner today stated that the silver ETF is coming, and also stated it is the purpose of the market place to determine price,” he said, once skeptical about the its approval by the SEC.
According to Morgan, the amount of existing .999 fine silver bullion is probably under 500 million ounces total, which is less than $5 billion dollars at today's price - a mere pittance in today's world of finance. However, he agreed that the market should determine the price.
“Bring on the silver ETF and let all the pent up demand from larger investors, pensions, hedge funds, money mangers and even some savvy banks come into the silver market!!” Morgan said.