LiveWire

Not so long ago, the precious rare earth material needed for the production of microchips and electric motors were almost exclusively sourced from China. However, the provenance of these components has been diversified recently. Make no mistake, China still holds two thirds of the rare earths production, but other countries such as the US or Australia are developing their offer. Countries like Brazil, Vietnam and Russia also have a lot of potential, one that is far from being fully exploited. 

As many mentioned previously, silver is not an asset class that is so easy to short squeeze. 

BP shows big oil is still suffering with an earnings miss. The firm is however profitable. BP’s fourth-quarter adjusted net income was $115 million, down from $2.57 billion a year earlier and only a slight improvement from the preceding three months. The company fell short of the average analyst estimate of $440 million. Operating cash flow excluding Gulf of Mexico spill payments, a key figure for investors as it determines the sustainability of dividend payments and capital expenditure, was much weaker. It fell to $2.4 billion in the period, down from $5.4 billion in the third quarter. Source: Bloomberg

Some profit-taking happening in silver after it topped $30 per ounce and an 8-year high. Is the short-squeeze done?

Hedge funds have raised their bets against Canadian silver mining stocks, while their prices sharply increased due to the massive buys of retail investors. However, they do not believe that they will be able to replicate what happened with the GameStop stock: “The Reddit-fueled trader is learning that the silver market is much bigger than some of the small cap stocks they have been trading,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA. Since Thursday, Toronto-listed First Majestic Silver Corp and Pan American Silver Corp soared 60.5% and 30.7%, respectively. Wheaton Precious Metals, Fortuna Silver Mines and Silvercorp Metals Inc all had double-digit gains over the same time period.