Silver has lagged gold for quite some time. Silver is a precious metal but is often referred to as "poor-man's gold". It has never been considered the same "store of value" as gold. Perhaps the disconnect comes in that silver has more industrial uses so it may be perceived as being more economically sensitive. In times like today, where the global economy is just coming out of recession, there may be enough doubt as to the sustainability of the recovery to keep the brakes on silver prices. Notwithstanding, the price of silver was up about 50% in 2009 and is up about 15% so far this year. So are silver mining stocks worth a look? The chart of Pan-American Silver, symbol PAAS, looks very conducive to trading. I'm not sure which way PAAS will go but from the chart below, the key price level is $27.00. There is a well-defined horizontal resistance line at $27.00 that began in August 2008 and just was broken to the upside yesterday. Volume was strong as well. So use the $27.00 level as a pivot-point. If the level holds, PAAS is likely to move higher. The next significant resistance level appears to be at $35.00 where another horizontal line (the tops of the then head-and-shoulders pattern) exists. If PAAS cannot hold above $27.00, then the stock could fall to the $20 - $21 level where there was a double bottom in February 2010.
