According to the digital platform Forbes, gold has recorded better performances compared to silver for the last 15 years, with a real-time price reaching €2,540 per ounce compared to €43 per ounce of silver. Faced with the current economic and financial uncertainty, which could lead to the elimination of 6,600 to 7,000 jobs in Lyon according to the president of the commercial court, precious metals have always been considered safe havens, alternatives to stock market and currency devaluation but also and above all long and short term investments.
Indeed, the various uses of a precious metal strongly influence its value and stability as an investment. If gold, which was already extracted from the sands of the Rhône as early as 1363, remains much more highly valued than silver in the jewelry sector, the white metal benefits from increasing demand in the jewelry sectors. industry and electricity and should even trade at a price five times higher than the price at which it is currently trading. Asking yourself about your objectives, the amount you are ready to invest and the nature of your investment therefore constitute significant factors before choosing between an investment in gold or silver.
Demand factors
While the conventional uses of gold in the Lyon region are mainly confined to the jewelry, textile, craft and electronic component manufacturing sectors, silver is just as used in the making of panel cells. solar, as well as the creation of silverware, artificial intelligence processors or even parts dedicated to smartphones.
In a context of economic growth, where industry alone represents 18.4% of the added value produced throughout the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, this malleability of money associated with its affordable price, its great resistance and its conductivity generally lead to growth in demand. Investors wishing to buy silver must therefore refer to industrial demand unlike those wishing to invest in gold, whose fluctuations in demand are primarily based on geopolitical and economic factors.
Factors linked to the price and price fluctuations of precious metals
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If investment gold displays significantly more attractive resale prices than those of silver, with an equivalence of around 79 ounces of silver for one ounce of gold, the price of physical investment silver has nevertheless experienced a clear improvement in Lyon under the effects of the pandemic, the shortage of precious metals and growing inflation. In the first half of 2024, the price of silver in the Lyon region actually achieved a performance of 29%, going from €16 in January 2020 to reach €27.
The more attractive purchase price of the white metal makes it a more affordable investment for the many new investors in the Metropolis or for those who have less liquidity to invest. On the other hand, the price of gold, which is less volatile than that of silver, is more stable and safer for investors looking for alternative assets to protect their liquidity. However, those wishing to diversify their investment portfolio are well advised to turn to silver, the price of which can fluctuate more quickly depending on industrial and technological demand.
Other factors to consider when investing in precious metals
Besides the fact that owning physical gold and silver does not directly generate passive income in the form of dividends or interest, it also requires having suitable storage solutions and insurance. These additional costs often push Lyon investors to opt for investments in luxury jewelry and numismatic coins, whose negotiations in loans on valuable objects are facilitated by Crédit Municipal de Lyon.
Investing in gold or silver exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offered by one of the many online gold trading counters in Lyon can also allow you to follow the fluctuations of your investments in real time without having to to accumulate jewelry and physical bullion. From this same perspective, investing in companies associated with the precious metals industry, including among others the forty Lyon jewelry stores, can also prove to be more secure than using companies specializing in storage. valuable goods.
