Recently precious metal prices have dipped. It appears that once the commodities market makes significant gains a price correction follows. This is the new normal. However, when the silver price is low you must buy. Certainly silver always offers speculative financial gain as it is often more volatile than gold. Yet, just like stocks most of your commodity investing should be for the long term.
While the silver spot price is an important indicator to keep an eye on, it only really matters if you are looking to buy or sell precious metals. The long term outlook is more important. Currently the debacle in Europe has kept the dollar surprisingly strong which in turn has flattened commodities. Still, expect another silver price surge in 2012. This is because there is still ample bad financial news in the world to cause this stock market to tank, which will help commodity prices turn upward again.