Word: hunted
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Hunt then developed a passion for silver. His bland understatement of the reason...
There were other factors: world demand for silver, spurred largely by its use in photographic materials, regularly exceeds new production from mines, and Hunt believed silver was greatly undervalued in relation to gold. Bunker and his brother Herbert bought in 1973 an astonishing 35 million oz. in futures contracts. Their buying drove prices up for a while, but when the brothers stopped their purchases, prices fell again. The Hunts lost an estimated $25 million to $50 million on paper. Undeterred, Bunker called for actual delivery of the metal, a rare occurrence in commodity markets, and just kept...
...prevailing theory is that Hunt was trying to corner the market. A corner is created when a speculator buys up virtually all the supply of a commodity or stock that is available for sale, and contracts to buy yet more. Other speculators who have contracted to sell the commodity to him but do not have any to deliver must either buy anything they can find at whatever outrageous prices may be asked or else settle in cash with the cornering speculator on any terms he may specify. Corners have often been attempted but seldom work, partly because the soaring price...
...corner was Hunt's goal, it did not work. In January, commodity exchanges placed sharp restrictions on the speculative purchases of silver contracts on margin. That dried up the frenzied demand. At the same time, thousands of people tempted by the high prices began hauling family silver out of closets to be sold and melted down. Even thieves got into the game, and burglaries of household silver increased throughout the U.S. In late January the price broke, then spiraled down and down...
What happened next is still unclear, mostly because it is not known how much Hunt may have borrowed to buy his silver and how badly the borrowing may have strained even his resources. But last week stories spread that he was selling silver in Europe, and traders interpreted that as a signal that he was running out of cash. Then Bunker, Herbert and their associates offered to sell billions of dollars worth of bonds in Europe to be backed by a "substantial portion" of the estimated 200 million oz. of silver they hold. These bonds would pay a low rate...