Silver prices are sharply lower today. The spot price of silver is 1.5% lower at 32.13 USD an ounce. Gold prices are also lower, spot gold is 0.31% lower at 1671 USD an ounce. Commodity analysts at Standard Chartered have today suggested that it is too early to call the sell-off in the silver price. "We believe it is too early to call a reversal of the downtrend that has unfolded since early September, as the macro picture is key to influencing investors' decisions in the near term. The global economic outlook remains challenging and uncertain. We believe that once sentiment improves and confidence returns, metal prices should rebound quickly. In order to gauge market sentiment, we spent time with traders, analysts, consumers, producers and hedge fund managers during last week's LME week in London," says the commodities note. Sentiment remains bearishly biased following significant metal price declines. Standard Chartered comment further about their experiences at LME Week: "Everyone we met during LME week was cautious about the outlook for underlying metal demand given current macroeconomic uncertainties, although none had seen this coming through in the physical market yet. "A resolution of the problems in Europe (or even some sign of a resolution) would be a key turning point for metal prices. While the West is taking centre stage and remains surrounded by uncertainty, China is also being discussed extensively. "People we met were cautious about China‟s growth in 2012 and had already started to worry about a possible slowdown in commodities demand there. Note that we have not seen any clear signs of this, and a GDP growth slowdown to 6% in 2012 would likely trigger more aggressive stimulus measures, fuelling demand for metals."

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