Economic reports today suggest things are picking up a bit: Payrolls might be expanding more than they’re contracting. Unfortunately, separate reports also suggest that the UK’s economic woes will have a negative effect on the U.S.

The mix of good and bad news has the stock market and the precious metals market relatively “steady,” without great movement in either direction.

Gold is trading pretty steadily, but gold and silver bulls are a little “shaky” on technical grounds. Despite the fact that gold and silver traded down slightly today, not much has changed in the big picture. So fear not.

Silver is practically immune from a true nose dive in value. The potential for returns remains high while the risk is still low.

Banks are still in a volatile state – especially with Bitcoins giving them a real run for their money – and investors are still hesitant to trust when it comes to banks, regulators, and their cash holdings.

Hence, precious metals have secured their position as one of the most coveted investment options of the decade.

For the month of January, we’ve seen a noteworthy spike of Silver ETF holdings as investors add on to their holdings (both physical silver and silver ETFs), more confident than ever that silver is on a strong path upwards.

As of mid-January, there was an increase of over 20 million ounces in investor silver holdings. However, there’s been a bit of a sell-off in the past few days of about 2 million ounces.

This sell-off has created a buy opportunity for investors who want to add to their holdings while a slight price-dip remains effective. Overnight prices hit a two-week low and on Friday closed at a technically bearish weekly low closing price.

Meanwhile, all the forces that are set to push silver over $100 are just beginning to align. Silver investment demand is poised to keep things up long-term, albeit with some short-term bearishness. Silver won’t stay down for long – buy on these dips while we still have ’em..

Brittany Stepniak – Wealthwire – Monday, January 28th, 2013