Gold as well has been moving up with the price getting above $1750 for the first time in almost as long. Again as we’ve mentioned previously inflation and poor economic conditions that drive people out of equities usually drive them into precious metals.

The other thing looks like its been strong economic pressure from emerging markets like China. New buyers could spark a drive up in prices. The drive up could happen Because there are more buyers with more money.

What could be causing the rise?

Looking to Barron’s online they say…

Prices moved higher during Asian trade as Chinese buying picked up following the Lunar New Year holiday, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report. But analysts remained cautious, pointing to an 11.2% rise so far in 2012 in gold futures prices. The PowerShares U.S. Dollar Index ETF (UUP) was falling some 0.27% in pre-markets as the CurrencyShares Euro ETF (FXE) was rising by 0.39%.

That could mean good news as the market looks to pull investors back in.

Two factors usually affect the price of silver in a positive way. A bad economy where equities and bonds both look gloomy, or inflation. Since it appears, even with Europe dangling by a thread, that the US and chinese economies are bouncing back, one would think the price of silver might stay at these lows or even fall lower still. Possibly by to the teens.

But, what about inflation? The fed just announced that it intends to keep rates low until 2014 in order to continue to try and help a housing market that just won’t recover. With rates that low and money already having been pumped into the economy, that could spark higher inflation than normal.

Those factors could lead the price of silver to jump unexpectedly and catch a lot of investors on the sidelines who recently dumped their holdings in silver and silver ETFs like SLV.

While we don’t know just what the future holds for the price of silver we can say that it isn’t as certain as some my think.

The price of both precious metals fell drastically late last year with both seeing lows they hadn’t seen in months. The new year, however, is looking optimistically better as speculation that inflation, a key driver in the price of metals such as gold and silver, will be coming back as Europe and the US figure out what to do with all that extra money they’re printing.

The price of silver is up to just under $30.

Well, we’re at it again, is it the bottom or is it just the beginning of a sell-off.

Some of the top commodities investors have sold off big stakes in their precious metals holdings this year which include silver, gold and platinum. These holdings have been in ETFs, mining companies as well as the precious metals themselves, which have started to look like the unsafe haven they’re not meant to be.

Instead, it appears money is flowing into bonds as yields begin to rise again, inflationary scare is lowered, and the price of precious metals begins to lower. We’re a little cautious that this is the bottom of the barrel for the price of silver, it’s been much lower in the recent past, and we’re worried that if the economy continues to just lurch along, with no sign that printing money by governments around the world is going to cause inflation… well then, silver might be headed lower.

Take it with a grain of salt though, we thought things were headed lower in the past and they bounced back quickly, what do we know.

The question every precious metals investor is asking themselves right now is whether or not this sell-off in the market signals a time to load up on precious metals. ETFs, which follow the price of silver, like SLV, have dropped, obviously, along with the price of silver and have made for a difficult time for investors wanting to time the market. Previously there would be a sell-off followed by a tremendous uptick, but we’re not seeing that right now.

Instead, the price of silver is falling quickly as it looks like the economy is headed south for a while. Europe is seeing its banking system hurt and getting worse with no immediate fix in sight. This could mean trouble for a market, the precious metals gold and silver market, that has been propped up due to inflationary pressures and a rebounding market.

But now that the Euro is on it’s way down just the same, we may see trouble ahead.

As we write this article the price of silver has fallen more than $2 and is back down below $31.50 per ounce. The price of gold, is following suit. The price of gold is off nearly 2.5% dropping $44 to the mid $1700 and not looking at stopping.

The price of silver is in the news as well with precious metals, previously a safe haven in economic turmoil, is now talked about with the same volatility as equities.

Top of the news is in the Wall Street Journal as well as the Washington Post. Both articles speak to the economic times in Europe.

The Washington Post speaks to the boost that Greece and Italy gave to the dollar as a place to find the potential cause of the drop in precious metals observed today and yesterday.

The WSJ is making similar reports that growth is going down and the chance of inflation is low. This will drive down the demand for gold and silver and make prices weak in the coming months.