Silver Posts Worst Day Since 1984, Erases 2011 Gain

Silver futures plunged Friday, with the COMEX December 2011 contract settling lower by $6.48, or 17.7%, at $30.10 per ounce.  Silver reached an intra-day low of $29.845 per ounce earlier this afternoon.

In doing so, gold’s sister precious metal posted its largest single-day decline since at least 1984 – according to FactSet Research, which does not have data going back further.  The previous record drop was a 13.8% fall on April 20, 2006.

The spot price of silver fell even more than the futures, as it reached $29.76 per ounce.  With today’s sell-off, the price of silver is now lower by 26.9% this week alone, and by 28.3% in September. More importantly, the silver price has now erased its entire year-to-date gain and is lower by 3.8% in 2011.

Silver stocks dropped alongside the metal today, but to a lesser extent. The Global X Silver Miners ETF (SIL) – comprised of the world’s largest silver stocks - fell $1.67, or 7.1%, to $21.90 per share.  The SIL extended its weekly and year-to-date losses to 21.6% and 19.3%, respectively.

Notable silver stocks moving lower included SIL components Pan American Silver (PAAS), Silver Standard Resources (SSRI), and Silver Wheaton (SLW).  In afternoon trading, PAAS, SSRI, and SLW retreated 6.3%, 9.9%, and 7.8%, respectively.

The silver market has undergone tremendous volatility this year, far greater than that in the gold market.  On April 25, 2011, the silver price reached $49.82 per ounce - its highest level since surpassing $50 per ounce in 1980.  At that time, the price of silver was higher by 61.0% on a year-to-date basis.

Since then, however, silver has  tumbled 40.3%, and today reached its lowest level since February 7th of this year.