Free Republic

China’s relentless silver buying at record prices, a record SHFE spread, and 2026 export controls confirm silver has become the decisive industrial, economic, tech, and military weapon Physical silver buying in China is continuing at full speed even as silver marks fresh all‑time highs, and that persistence is the tell. What is unfolding is not a normal commodity cycle; it is a quiet arms race for the metal that powers the modern world.​ Silver buying doesn’t care about price. China’s silver demand has only intensified as prices have exploded, with Shanghai spot and near‑dated SHFE futures trading at persistent premiums...

The price of silver is about $78.65 as of Friday—a new high—according to the New York Commodity Exchange.Silver’s price surge has outpaced gold, though the more expensive metal’s price rose just over 1.2% to hit a high of $4,562.70 on Friday.

Banks and traders are expanding their precious metals desks and logistics capabilities as they race to capitalise on gold's historic rally this year, which has suddenly made the sleepy world of bullion trading and vaulting one of the most profitable areas in finance. The blistering rally in gold and silver prices in 2025 has had another burst of energy in recent days, powered by simmering geopolitical tension between the U.S. and Venezuela, as well as bets of US interest rate cuts. Both precious metals hit record-high prices Wednesday. The price of gold hit $4,500 a troy ounce for the first...

At least one Republican senator has said that the U.S. government cannot afford a Trump administration proposal to send out $2,000 tariff-derived rebate payments. “If we’re bringing in revenue through the tariffs, that ought to be applied to reduce the deficit, not just to make cash payments to Americans,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) told Fox Business’s Maria Bartiromo on Monday. Bartiromo then told him: “It sounds like you would vote ‘no’ in terms of $2,000 checks going to individuals.” He added that “we can’t afford it” and that he wishes the U.S. government was “in a position to return the...

The U.S. Mint on Wednesday ended production of the penny, a change made to save money and because the 1-cent coin that could once buy a snack or a piece of candy had become increasingly irrelevant. The last pennies were struck at the mint in Philadelphia, where the country's smallest denomination coins have been produced since 1793, a year after Congress passed the Coinage Act. Officials said the final few pennies would be auctioned off. "God bless America, and we're going to save the taxpayers $56 million," U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said just before hitting a button to strike the...