Silver has moved from the sidelines of the commodities complex to center stage this year, delivering a rally that has left even the much-hyped gold bull market in the shade. Since January, the metal’s price has more than doubled, repeatedly breaking all-time highs and forcing investors to rethink where silver sits in both the precious-metals and industrial-metals universes.

By late this week, spot silver was trading just under $62 an ounce, having briefly pushed to a record above $62.80 after slicing through the $60 threshold for the first time in history. Futures prices have traced the same arc, gaining more than 110% year-to-date and holding above $61.

Germany’s top financial regulator BaFin has eased a key capital requirement for banks in a cautious nod to stabilizing conditions in the country’s battered residential real estate market. The regulator announced on Wednesday it would cut the so-called sectoral systemic risk buffer on residential mortgage loans from 2% to 1%, freeing up an estimated €2 to €2.5 billion in bank capital that lenders can now allocate elsewhere.

BaFin cited a noticeable decline in market vulnerabilities, while also cautioning that risks have not been fully eliminated. Germany’s property market, which fell into its deepest downturn in decades starting in 2022, has seen widespread developer insolvencies, plunging property values, and stagnating sales. While the commercial sector—particularly office and retail space—remains under strain, housing prices are once again ticking up and new mortgage lending is showing signs of revival.

Argentina’s government has approved a $2.5 billion lithium mining investment by Anglo-Australian mining major Rio Tinto, marking the first project to pass under the country’s new flagship investment framework, known as the Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones (RIGI).

The approval, announced Tuesday by Mining and Energy Coordination Secretary Daniel Gonzalez during a conference in Buenos Aires, is a pivotal moment for Argentina’s push to harness its vast mineral wealth to stabilize an inflation-ridden economy. The green light for Rio Tinto’s Rincon project, located in the lithium-rich Salta province in northern Argentina, is being hailed as a breakthrough after months of industry frustration over bureaucratic delays.