Shortages of fabricated silver bullion products continue across the board. Mints and refiners have fallen progressively further behind in recent weeks – caught flat-footed by a spike in demand starting at the end of June.

These markets would need a period of reduced buying from investors in order for inventories to recover. Whether or not we get that in the coming months remains to be seen. Wall Street and global financial markets are entering dangerous territory just as the bullion market wrestles with shortages that figure to worsen in the near term.