By Stan Luxenberg
The Street
Silver bulls owe a debt to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
With markets unsettled by the Russian move into Crimea, precious metals have climbed.
This year, iShares Silver SLV (ETF) (SLV) has gained 7%, and PureFunds ISE Junior Silver (SILJ) has ranked as one of the top-performing returning exchange-traded funds, returning 36.7%.
“People are looking for safe havens, and that has helped silver prices in the last few months,” says Jay Jacobs, a research analyst for Global X Funds, which operates ETFs.