The silver market has dropped sharply on Tuesday as the U.S. government reported a massive shutdown that has shuttered more than 3 million businesses.
The drop in silver prices is the biggest single-day drop in the last five years, according to the Silver Institute, a nonprofit research group that tracks the precious metal.
The U.N. agency said in a statement that it has suspended all operations at the federal government’s stockpile of silver, citing “a lack of adequate storage.”
The government’s stockpiles of the metal have been severely depleted in recent years as the world’s biggest producer of the precious material has been grappling with a shortage of cheap energy to fuel its growing economy.
It was the second shutdown of a similar scale in two weeks.
Last week, the government shuttered nearly 1 million businesses, with many employees being forced to stay home to care for sick family members.
The shutdowns are the second time in a year that the U,S.
has been hit by an economic crisis that has led to economic damage to consumers, businesses and infrastructure.
The nation’s largest silver producer, Metals Holdings Corp., is facing the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.
The company has reported a 10% drop in profit for the year and a loss of $1.5 billion in sales for the quarter ended March 31.
Metals Corp. CEO John F. Shumway told investors last week that he expects the company to post a loss for the fourth straight year and is on track to report a $200 million loss for 2017.
He said that he hopes to generate enough cash for a dividend of between $10 and $15 per share, but he didn’t specify a number.In the U