Keep it clear that guys like UBS don’t mess around with the little equities that I tend to feature here (like FVI.v, for example). The big boys swim in big pools, which means that in the case of dedicated silver plays choices are rather limited. Apart from HOC.L there’s FRES.L, PAAS, HL counts I suppose (but already we’re encroaching on larger gold production in the mix) the original Peñoles company of course (from where Fresnillo was spun off), Silver Wheaton (SLW) and then SLV the metal ETF. But then my “off top of head” list starts to get thin. Maybe you can add a couple more, but there aren’t many out there, that’s for sure.
So with UBS downgrading HOC.L today, it’s sending more than a simple message about a single stock, methinks. My best interpretation is one of UBS saying “party’s over for a while…time for a bit of consolidation after the nice rebound.” But that’s just my dos centavos.