Silver: More Red Flags for ‘Solar Metal’ From China Slowdown

investing.com:

One of the world’s most valuable industrial metals, silver, could lose more of its luster as the economy it heavily relies on slows by the day.

The white metal, key to renewable energy from its extensive use in solar panels, has lost 8% of its value in four weeks, trading at a crossroads now, with a technical rebound likely after the triggering of key support levels on its way down.

But it could also enter a new period of fundamentally-driven bearishness after trade data on Tuesday showed China’s exports tumbling at its fastest pace in 3-½ years, adding to concerns about the world’s No. 2 economy.

A China slowdown will slow global industrial progress as many of the world’s jobs and production depend on the Chinese economy due to its vast market and factory floors.

In Monday’s session, silver for September delivery on New York’s Comex fell to a one-month low of $23.12 an ounce, extending for a fourth week in a row a decline that began when the metal traded above $25.

The spot price of silver, more closely watched than futures by some traders, settled on Monday at $23.15 per ounce — down 2% on the day and 7% off over the past four weeks.

Those moves in silver came before data on Tuesday that showed China’s exports fell by 14.5% last month from a year earlier to $281.76 billion, compared with a 12.4% slump in June.

The drop in China’s July exports was way beyond the 4.8% fall projected by Wind, a leading provider of financial information services in Beijing.

Aside from exports, imports fell 12.4% in July from a year earlier to $201.16 billion, versus a fall of 6.8% in June and against Wind’s forecast drop of 11.4%.

The International Monetary Fund originally forecasted that China would be the top contributor to global growth