SILVER

The silver market is also starting off on a slightly weaker bias today. A notice of possible downgrades for some EU countries early this morning, probably gives the bear camp a slight edge to start. Silver recently hasn't shown the upside capacity to rally, as traders seem to fear ongoing EU turmoil going forward. However, the silver bulls probably hope for at least an initial positive reaction to the EU news Friday but silver and other physical commodity markets might need a definitively positive EU deal to mount a run back toward the early November consolidation highs up at $35.00. Given that silver seems to be tracking its physical commodity market fundamentals, it is possible that silver prices this morning will react favorably if US claims show an "as expected" decline but the real focus of the market is probably locked onto the EU news. Comex Silver Stocks were 108.559 million ounces up 152,006 ounces. While silver did see a slight rise in Peru silver output yesterday, that news wasn't overly surprising and silver hasn't exactly turned sharply off physical supply side news lately. Comex Silver stocks are at their highest levels in the past 10 sessions. Some initial weakness to start today, as world equity markets were softer and the uncertainty off the EU summit remains in place. Initial support in March silver is seen down at $32.26 and there might be little in the way of resistance until the $33.08 level. As in a number of other physical commodity markets, the next 36 hours could present a volatility event or a major trend decision in silver. Since silver and gold recently haven't been able to embrace a consistently positive fundamental track, it might be imperative for the bull camp to get a large EU bailout fund and a definitive risk on environment back in place. Up trend channel support off the last two weeks lows is seen today at $31.50 and that up trend channel support line rises to $31.56 on Friday.