24K99 News Legendary American investor Jim Rogers told MarketWatch in a Zoom interview this week that the US economy is getting closer to experiencing a "extremely serious" recession, which will lead investors to flock to precious metals.

But the veteran investor, known as the "commodity king," said he is more likely to buy silver instead of gold to "hedge" against economic turmoil.

Rogers stated in the interview that history shows we are getting closer and closer to an economic recession, "but I don't know when."

He said, "I know the economy will go into recession again, and it will be an extremely serious one."

Rogers, chairman of Beeland Interests Inc., co-founded the legendary Quantum Fund with billionaire George Soros in the 1970s.

He believes, "The United States has never experienced such a long economic recession in its history," and more economic issues "should have appeared long ago."

According to the National Bureau of Economic Research's data, the longest period without a recession was around 128 months from 2009 to 2020.

The US experienced a brief economic recession during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, prior to which the US went through the 'Great Recession' from 2007 to 2009. It was one of the longest and most severe economic recessions since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Rogers believes that if the economy does indeed encounter serious issues, gold and silver will perform well, and commodities as a whole will generally perform well.

He said that when economic issues arise, it leads to money printing and inflation, and people will seek a 'safe haven for value-preserving assets.' 'In severe inflation and heavy money printing situations, commodities usually retain their value.'

Rogers said, especially gold and silver, have always been the refuge for people during economic turmoil. 'So I believe gold and silver will perform well.'

He said: 'Gold has already performed well. Silver has also performed decently.'

The most active gold futures contract for December on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Comex) closed at a record high of $2,759.80 per ounce on Tuesday, touching an intraday historical high of $2,772.60 per ounce on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the December silver futures contract closed at $35.04 per ounce on Tuesday, reaching a 12-year high. The highest settlement price for silver was $48.70 per ounce on January 17, 1980.

Rogers stated: 'If we were to face serious economic problems, more money printing, more inflation... silver and gold will once again become a refuge.'

If he had to choose between gold and silver, Rogers might choose silver, 'because it is still far from its historical high, while gold is close to its historical peak.'

However, Rogers emphasized that he does "hold a large amount" of these two precious metals.

However, he said, the performance of gold seems to indicate that there may be more printing of money and various potential issues, "look out the window - you may see war, you may see printing. Gold is afraid of both things, always has been."

Although he is not currently purchasing physical gold and silver, Rogers stated, "if there is time, he might buy some silver this week, but not gold, not now, unless the gold price drops."