Gold Tops $4,400, Silver Surges — And Sound Money Scores New Victories -

Welcome to this week’s market wrap podcast, I’m Mike Gleason
Coming up don’t miss our exclusive interview with Michael DiRienzo, President and CEO of The Silver Institute. Mr. DiRienzo provides an update on how things look when it comes to the industrial demand side of things for silver, and how the years-long structural supply deficit is likely going to continue to be a factor worth watching as we move forward here in the silver market. Our guest also hints at when his firm believes we may see a new high in the silver price, a time horizon which may surprise you.
So, be sure to stick around for another wonderful Money Metals interview with our own Mike Maharrey and Michael DiRienzo of The Silver Institute, coming up after this week’s market update. And if you enjoy this material, please do us a favor and like and subscribe to this podcast wherever you consume this content.
Gold and silver are finishing out another volatile week with both metals moving higher Friday morning, as investors digest softer inflation numbers, a weakening U.S. dollar, and growing evidence that the Federal Reserve may be able to stay on the sidelines.
The big driver this week has been inflation.
July's Consumer Price Index rose just 0.1 percent for the month, while the Producer Price Index came in flat. Those relatively benign numbers helped ease fears that inflation was about to force the Fed into another round of tightening.
That sent gold surging to a two-month high above $4,400 an ounce earlier this week before profit-taking knocked prices back on Thursday. Gold dropped more than one percent during that session, but buyers quickly returned on Friday as the dollar weakened.
The market has now substantially reduced the odds of a September Fed rate hike. Reuters reports that those odds have fallen to roughly 31 percent, versus 55 percent just a week ago. That's a meaningful shift in expectations, and it's generally supportive for precious metals.
Silver, meanwhile, continues to be the more explosive of the two metals.
After briefly pushing above $67 an ounce following the CPI report, silver pulled back toward $64 before rebounding here on Friday. Even after that volatility, silver remains up roughly 13 percent over the past month and more than 70 percent from a year ago.
But perhaps the most interesting development isn't the daily price action at all.
Central banks continue accumulating gold as they diversify reserves away from traditional government debt and the dollar. Reuters noted this week that central-bank buying remains an important force behind the renewed gold rally.
And there is an interesting contradiction developing in the bond market. Inflation is cooling in the short run, but investors remain nervous about enormous government deficits and the long-term purchasing power of government debt. A Treasury auction this week produced the highest 30-year yield in 25 years.
That combination may ultimately be the bigger story for gold.
Markets can debate whether the Fed hikes, cuts, or stands pat at its next meeting. But Washington's debt continues growing regardless.
And that fundamental case for owning sound money hasn't changed.
As for the specifics of the weekly price action, gold is up back up above $4,400 – at least as of this moment. The yellow metal currently checks in at $4,402, good for a weekly gain of around $50 or 1.1%.
Silver is following up last week’s explosive double-digit percent gain with another 2.1% advance here this week. The white metal is up nearly $1.50 and checks in at $65.64 an ounce.
Platinum is little changed this week and comes in at $1,754, but its sister metal palladium is taking it on the chin a bit. The industrial metal is off $60 or 4.3% since last Friday’s close.
Well, before we move to this week's special interview, I want to highlight some important progress on the public-policy front – because Money Metals doesn't just buy, sell, store, and lend against precious metals – we’re also working to promote legislation that benefits gold and silver investors, and our nation as a whole.
This week, Money Metals and our partners at the Sound Money Defense League named three state lawmakers as the 2026 Sound Money Legislators of the Year: Maryland Delegate Wayne Hartman, Maryland Senator J.B. Jennings, and Alaska Representative Kevin McCabe.
These aren't merely symbolic awards. They recognize legislators who delivered tangible victories for precious metals owners.
In Maryland, Hartman and Jennings led the successful effort to restore the state's sales-tax exemption on precious metals after lawmakers effectively eliminated it in 2025. The consequences of that tax were dramatic. Maryland coin and bullion dealers testified that some lost more than 70 percent of their business almost overnight, as customers simply took their purchases elsewhere.
The Sound Money Defense League worked directly with legislators on the bill language, supplied research and talking points, mobilized thousands of Maryland citizens, and even testified in Annapolis. The result was a reversal of a damaging policy and a significant victory for Maryland investors and businesses.
Meanwhile, in Alaska, Representative Kevin McCabe spent years working with the Sound Money Defense League to enact House Bill 1. The new law prevents local governments from imposing sales taxes on gold and silver coins, bars, and rounds – and it reaffirms gold and silver's status as constitutional money.
And this is part of a much bigger effort.
Money Metals has been working for years to advance pro-sound-money legislation state by state – eliminating discriminatory taxes on precious metals, recognizing gold and silver as money, promoting the creation of state gold reserves, and removing legal barriers to owning and using precious metals.
Today, 45 states have fully or partially eliminated sales taxes on purchases of precious metals. Just five states still impose sales taxes on all such purchases: Washington, Hawaii, New Mexico, Maine, and Vermont. Those states are increasingly becoming the exceptions rather than the rule.
So, while we spend plenty of time discussing the gold and silver markets, we're equally proud of the work happening behind the scenes.
Sound money isn't just an investment idea. It's a policy agenda – and Money Metals intends to keep leading the fight to advance it.
Well now, without further delay, let’s get right to our exclusive interview with a silver market insider.
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Mike Maharrey: Greetings. I'm Mike Maharrey, and I'm joined today by Michael DiRienzo. Michael is the president and CEO of the Silver Institute and a fine human being to boot. How are you doing today, Michael?
Michael DiRienzo: Hey, I'm doing great, Mike. Thank you again for the opportunity and I follow your work closely and you put out some really great reports, so thank you for that.
Mike Maharrey: Well, I really appreciate that. And I could not do my job if you guys weren't doing your job. We depend so much on the data and the kind of boots on the ground in-depth analysis that you folks put out on a weekly and monthly basis. So thank you for everything that you do. It's been a while since we've talked, so I'm really interested to get your perspective on where we've been and where we're going. Of course, we saw a silver surge to just over $120 an ounce in early January and then corrected. And I think that correction was warranted, just got a little frothy there for a bit. And then we kind of rode all the way down into the $50 announce for a while. Now we seem to be kind of recovering along with gold. And we're running around $65 an ounce this morning as we're recording this interview.
And I think to some degree silver followed gold lower. But I guess setting aside those things that are impacting the overall market, talking about the Iran-US conflict and interest rate expectations and stuff for that, but looking more, just focusing on the dynamics in the silver market, looking at supply and demand and what we're seeing there, do you kind of feel like the price is settled in about where it should be given those dynamics? And just how do you see the overall market right now? Where are we compared to where we've been and maybe where are we going?
Michael DiRienzo: Sure. Well, thank you. Yeah, look, as you mentioned, we got to $121 and January 31st of this year. It came down quite precipitously along with gold. It was not helped at all by the late February announcement of the war in Iran. It took a little more off the top then. And you'll note that I've been noticing that anytime that there's an announcement of a ceasefire or that the straits are open, the precious metals complex reacts positively. So there is no question in my mind, at least, that this war and this global conflict is affecting the market. And it's quite opposite of what we saw in the 1970s. Gold and silver really didn't react to higher inflation in 2021 and 2022. It did modestly, and it's not really reacting the way it used to in times of political uncertainty and more. So what it's trading on today, in the case of silver, are the solid fundamentals of the market.
And if I had told you two years ago that the average silver price in 2026 would be above $72, $75 an ounce, you may have thought I was crazy. But here we are today at around $65 an ounce. Every mining company is reporting in our second quarter figures as we speak. It's all very positive. And I'm happy for our member mining companies that continue to produce silver. Some of it as a byproduct of course, but we do have quite a few primary members and they're doing just fine. So the market right now is we're seeing that industrial demand for silver, that we released this data back in April of this year, and it's pretty much on target. We think there'll be a small decrease in industrial demand, and that will be led by a further decrease in the use of silver in photovoltaics as we go through the remainder of this year.
So at these price levels, you can only imagine that manufacturers are looking to get out of silver and replace it with another metal, but they're having some difficulty doing that. I mean, if you have a 25-year planned solar farm, you're going to want the reliability, the durability, and the stability of silver in those solar cells. And they're finding that out. So, we don't know when this is going to hit its bottom, but we always know, and we will know that silver will be used in PV from here on out. And it's not like photography, which was replaced entirely by digital photography. But it's not just that. I mean, EV sales are going through the roof globally. The AI infrastructure is in its infancy, and the data centers that are needed to power AI are exploding across the globe in terms of their installations. That's win-win for silver down the road and even currently.
So, look at the market, it's tight. We do believe that there'll be an increase on the investment side of investment demand. We think it'll rise by, I'm talking about retail silver investment, coin and bars. That's probably going to go up by about 7% this year, facing some issues in India with some of the import duties. But India has been strong in the last several years with respect to silver bars and silver coins. And we can talk about ETFs a little bit down the road.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah. I'm curious about just maybe some specifics. Thinking about the solar use of silver. I know that obviously when the price of one of your big components goes way up, you're going to look for waste to substitute. I'm curious as to really how realistic is that? What substitute is there and is it that much cheaper and reliable than silver?
Michael DiRienzo: Well, I mean, look, silver has unmatched conductivity as you know. And a lot of these alternatives are immature in their development. Silver has the best electrical conductivity of any metal. And the screen printing silver paste onto cells is a mature high yield process as we speak. Alternative materials and metalization techniques, they still must overcome challenges before becoming really competitive. So copper metalization exists, but hasn't scaled to replace silver industry-wide. There is some structural growth and solar deployment. I think you read probably this year that the IEA expects solar to become the dominant global renewable energy source by 2030. And solar's share of total silver industrial demand rose from 11% in 2014 to just under 30% in 2024, which was the peak year of silver's consumption or use in solar. We reported that there was a decrease last year, that there'll be a decrease this year.
It's not horribly significant, but as these prices have gotten painfully high for these manufacturers, they're actively engineering it out. But Mike, they were doing it when silver was $13 an ounce.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah, no doubt. I mean, you're always looking for a way to save a penny.
Michael DiRienzo: And that's what it is. It's fractions of a penny. It's two, three, four cents per cell, and that's what they're looking to do.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah. Interesting. So obviously, we're seeing this massive build out in AI data centers. Data centers seem to be in the news almost every day. Obviously, a lot of the same electrical kind of components are in AI. Are we seeing a big increase in silver offtake from that build-out?

Michael DiRienzo: Well, we're hearing it, but we just don't have the numbers. We put out a report late last year on silver's use in AI data centers, solar panels and PV, called it the silver, the next generation metal. It is clearly being used. Data centers have grown over 6,000% in just the last three years. And you can only imagine the number of electrical contacts required, the wiring, the pasting that is needed in these facilities. So yes, silver demand will increase in those two applications. There's no question about it.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah. Have you seen some substitution in the jewelry market as gold prices have risen? Have we seen some shift to silver jewelry with that?
Michael DiRienzo: Yeah, it's interesting. We've been reading about, and I've seen firsthand, you're seeing gold plated silver jewelry in some cases. So, silver is the backbone, but there's a sheen of gold plating on top of it. Jewelry demand is obviously quite price sensitive and it's a discretionary purchase by the individual. And more women are buying silver. More women between the ages of 24 and 30 globally are buying silver jewelry. We think that number is going to be pretty consistent with last year's number this year. But as the world economy goes, as people feel that they're more flush in the pocket, there goes silver and gold jewelry purchases.
Mike Maharrey: Right, right. Absolutely. Yeah. Very interesting. So looking at the supply side of the equation, obviously if you're a miner, you want to see your price of what you're digging out of the ground go up. But I know that there's also, you can't just scale up a silver mine in 20 minutes just because the price is up. So how has the increase of price impacted the mining sector? Are we starting to see some movement towards trying to increase output? And how does that look on the supply side?
Michael DiRienzo: Well, in many cases, the mining you see today was put into plans 10 years ago in 2016. So you are seeing companies spend a little bit more on exploration, but they're not doing it recklessly. It seems to be, at least to me, that it's coming off of existing projects looking for extra veins or new veins on those projects. But regardless, we are still calling for the sixth year of a structural market deficit. And we're thinking still that it's going to be about 46 or 50 million ounces. That could increase if the demand side increases, but we're not going to see an influx of new silver supply to the market. As a matter of fact, we had a 3% increase in mine production in 2025, and we're calling for a 0.3% decrease in 2026.
Mike Maharrey: What about the recycling side of it?
Michael DiRienzo: Well, on the recycling side, we think there's going to be a quite substantial jump of about 7% this year. But when you add those numbers up together to form the supply side, we still think the deficit will exist this year for sure.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah. And that'll be the sixth straight deficit, correct?
Michael DiRienzo: Yes, we are in that year right now. Yes. Yeah.
Mike Maharrey: And can you explain to folks, I think sometimes people have a hard time understanding what we mean by deficit, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that that silver doesn't exist anywhere, that people can't get it at all. But what are the ramifications of these persistent year-on-year supply deficit? What does that actually mean?
Michael DiRienzo: Well, demand is stronger than supply on an annual basis, and it has been for the last six years. Now, does that mean there's no silver out there? Of course not. There is above-ground stocks of silver. When you look at what happened last year in the beginning of 2025 with the threat of potential tariffs on Canada and Mexico with respect to silver investment grade bars, industrial silver, you saw a lot of silver flow over from London, other parts of the world to New York in anticipation of April 2nd, Liberation Day. Precious metals were left off the table. But when you look at the LBMA, and let's say they had 750 million ounces of silver in their vaults, they may have a little more, they may have a little less. About 75% of that, Mike, is already allocated to ETPs across the globe. So you have a small free float of silver.
And of course, it's extraordinarily price sensitive in terms of moving the silver out of those vaults.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah, and it's not an easy thing. It got really crazy. We were actually sending 1,000 ounce bars over to India from Money Metals. Oh,
Michael DiRienzo: I remember that. That was in October of last year during Diwali.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think that is indicative of the fact that when you have this tightness in the market, even what would've possibly been a minor disruption under normal circumstances becomes more significant. We had this movement of metal because of the tariffs, and then it was kind of displaced, and it's not easy to move tons of silver around the world.
Michael DiRienzo: No, it's not. And then you'll recall the lease rates on silver went through the roof. The EFP moved forward. It was a very, very tight market at the time.
Mike Maharrey: Do you think that we're in a situation now where there is the risk of additional squeezes like that?
Michael DiRienzo: Absolutely. Absolutely. No question about it.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah. So just looking forward, we've been kind of range-bounded and we have seen a bit of a breakout as I guess I can't even keep up with the news on Iran. I can't ever figure out whether it's good or bad today. But generally speaking, there's been a little bit of optimism, and we've seen some optimism that maybe the Fed's not going to have to raise interest rates given the employment data that we've gotten. So we've seen some boost in both gold and silver, but still I would still probably describe the prices range-bound. What do you think is going to have to happen out there to really get silver moving again?
Michael DiRienzo: Well, I think that we're going to need to see more economic data from the industrial side. I also think that as soon as this war concludes, the straits are a powerful source for all goods and services. The threat or the closure of those straits impacts basically everything that we consume. And I think that we need a resolution to this as soon as possible before we start getting into the '70s and so forth.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah. Yeah. I think you're absolutely right. The war is almost like a blanket over the entire market until that's lifted off. It's really difficult for people, I think, to even focus in on some of these fundamentals that we're talking about.
Michael DiRienzo: Correct.
Mike Maharrey: I think it's important for folks to recognize what's going on with these more fundamental dynamics because at some point that blanket will come off, I guess, and we'll see some return to sanity maybe. I don't know.
Michael DiRienzo: Well, what we saw, Mike, I mean when the war began, we saw liquidations in gold and silver ETPs. Net inflows of about 270 million ounces happened in 2025. And we've had some outflows this year of about 6%. But we're hearing that that's picking back up again. And so I think people, I don't think they're comfortable with the status quo globally in terms of geopolitics. I think, like you mentioned, I think there's hope that this will be resolved in the very near future.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah. All right. Well, let me get you out of here on a kind of a fun question. One of my favorite things that you guys do is your, I guess it's bimonthly Silver News. And there's always these fascinating things in the silver news about new technologies and new uses for silver, both in the electronics and in the industrial field, but also a lot of in medicine and whatnot. And I'm curious if you have something, kind of a favorite or something that just really struck you like, "This is super cool." A really neat application for silver that you find fascinating or really like or that has grabbed your attention.
Michael DiRienzo: Sure. And this is at the smaller scale with respect to demand, but nonetheless, silver's use in health and medicine is not as well-known as it should be. I mean, it's a natural antibacterial. One of the things that people are not aware of that in hospitals, silver is coating the operating rooms is the operating table. Silver is on the instruments. It's used in conjunction with others to, not metals, but cleaning agents to disinfect hospitals. It's sewn into the drapes. It truly is nature's miracle metal. And you'll see uses of silver in medicine almost every day. I mean, we're doing a story in the August silver news about how nano-silver helps doctors administer a correct drug dosage. So, little things that people don't see or read about. This is interesting stuff. And silver is of course at the backbone of these new discoveries. So, I would say silver and health and medicine.
And when you add up water purification, not just for personal consumption, but also for pools and jacuzzies and so forth, when you look at how silver fights Legionnaire's disease and any breakout, whether that be in a pool or a locker room, silver comes to the rescue. And silver basically, as I mentioned, natural antibacterial, but it promotes healing and it prevents infection.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah. I am not a doctor and I'm not making any statement of relating to health, but I know people who take colonial silver as a way to deal with illnesses and sickness. And they say that they found it to be very helpful and successful for them, and that just goes to that whole complex. And I’m with you. I really am fascinated by the medical uses of silver. That may have a little bit to do with it. At one point I thought I was going to be a doctor, but -
Michael DiRienzo: Well, hey, there's still time.
Mike Maharrey: No, there's not. Organic chemistry closed that door for me.
Michael DiRienzo: I think it did for many people.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah, no doubt. Well, I really appreciate you coming on and giving this really good overview of where we are in the silver market. It'll be interesting to see how we move forward. And as you say, I really hope we do get through this Iran-US conflict and can kind of move on because I mean -
Michael DiRienzo: I agree. I agree.
Mike Maharrey: Beyond the loss of life, it has been so disruptive on the economy and continues to be so. Absolutely. No,
Michael DiRienzo: We think it's going to be a great year for silver. It already has. And we think that not only the average silver price at the end of the year is going to be quite strong. We think it will set a record. It already has. We think new floors have been set in the market. This is not a $13 or $15 metal anymore. It's a metal that's trading on its fundamentals, and it's a metal that's trading on both its industrial uses and its investment potential.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah, absolutely. And I think you make a really, really good point. We look at the correction, and I think a lot of people are kind of negative. Oh man, silver. Oh, look how far it's down. Right. We're at $65 an ounce, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, it wasn't long ago that we were talking about 13, 14, $15 silver.
Michael DiRienzo: Absolutely. Absolutely.
Mike Maharrey: Keep that in perspective.
Michael DiRienzo: If I go through the World Silver Survey here, Mike, and look at some of the average prices of silver over the course of the last 10 years, it was $17.05 in 2017, $15.71, $16.21 in 2019, $23.35 in 2023, $28.27 in 2024, and $40 in 2025. And we're talking above 70 this year. So, the metal is on the right track.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah, absolutely. So before we go, I do want you to let folks know where they can find the Silver Institute and maybe, excuse me, highlight some of the work that you guys put out that people will be interested in.
Michael DiRienzo: Sure, sure. So we can be found at silverinstitute.org. And from there, you can learn all about the many aspects and fascinating facets of silver. You can also sign up for our Silver News, which is a bimonthly publication as you referenced earlier. We put out press releases. We just released a report a few weeks ago on the gold-silver ratio. Everything can be found on our website. A whole library of world silver surveys are online. So if you're looking for anything that has to do with silver, go to wwwsilverinstitute.org.
Mike Maharrey: Yep. Do that. And as I say, I rely on the data that you guys produce on virtually a daily basis. And that report on the gold-silver ratio was fantastic, and it was convenient that it came out at a point where I had several people in my ear saying, "Oh, that gold-silver ratio is meaningless now." So it was nice
Michael DiRienzo: To have that. When you read that report, it's lengthy, but it's filled with great anecdotes. We really examined the years of 1970 through today, but we reference the early times. It truly is one of the world's oldest economic indicators.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah, absolutely. I look at it almost on a daily basis just to see where we are. So that's an example of the work that comes out of the Silver Institute. Thank you so much, Michael, for being on the show today. And I apologize for my scattered brain. It's just been one of those mornings, but -
Michael DiRienzo: No worries. Thank you, Mike. I really appreciate it.
Mike Maharrey: Yeah, it's always a pleasure, and we'll talk again soon. Thank you so much.
Michael DiRienzo: Yes, sir.
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Good stuff once again there from our friends at the Silver Institute and we certainly enjoyed having Michael DiRienzo on and appreciate getting his insights on the state of silver and other matters.
And that will do it for this week. Be sure to check back next Friday for our next Weekly Market Wrap Podcast. Check out the Money Metals Midweek Memo podcast as well. To listen to any of our audio programs just go to MoneyMetals.com/podcasts or find them on places like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or other podcast platforms. And as a big help to us we would ask you to please like, subscribe, download and rate our podcasts. Doing so helps us extend the reach of this material.
Until next time, this has been Mike Gleason with Money Metals Exchange, thanks for listening and have a wonderful weekend everybody.

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