Silver Open Interest Plunges Below 100,000

Last week's COT report indicated that the commercials reduced their short silver positions by nearly 23 million ounces in the week ending 11/22, and OI had plunged to 108k contracts. 
Clearly the commercials were preparing for this week's surge thanks to The Fed's European bailout/QE.
Open interest has since declined nearly another 10,000 contracts, or 50 million ounces in the week since the COT data was updated.  OI has now broken below 100,000, at 99,053.
The major volume has now shifted from the Dec contract to the Mar 12 contract, and silver is trading in contango from the spot contract through the Dec 13 contract, entering backwardation from the July 14 contract on out. 
Backwardation has tightened considerably since we last examined it, with a maximum discount of .50 for the July 2016 contract vs. spot.

Daily Settlements for Silver Futures (FINAL) Trade Date: 11/29/2011
Month	Open	High	Low	Last	Change	Settle	Estimated Volume	Prior Day Open Interest
DEC 11	32.000	32.145	31.440	31.880	-.308	31.853	16,516	6,068
JAN 12	32.060	32.170	31.545	31.940	-.313	31.873	766	624
FEB 12	-	-	-	-	-	31.911	-	-
MAR 12	32.120	32.240	31.530	31.990	-.292	31.950	34,463	52,692
MAY 12	32.150	32.225	31.695	32.010	-.292	31.986	847	5,396
JLY 12	32.120	32.240	31.990	32.095	-.292	32.021	156	2,670
SEP 12	32.095	32.095	32.095	32.095	-.292	32.052	73	1,898
DEC 12	32.255	32.290	31.820	32.185	-.291	32.091	295	13,680
JAN 13	-	-	-	-	-.288	32.080	-	11
MAR 13	-	-	-	-	-.286	32.058	3	1,124
MAY 13	-	-	-	-	-.286	32.006	-	396
JLY 13	-	-	-	-	-.286	31.973	5	3,169
SEP 13	-	-	-	-	-.286	31.924	-	155
DEC 13	31.830	31.830	31.830	31.830	-.299	31.874	276	8,307
JLY 14	Backwardation-	Starts-	Here-	>-	-.303	31.734	-	721
DEC 14	-	-	-	-	-.303	31.655	-	1,376
JLY 15	-	-	-	-	-.288	31.455	-	190
DEC 15	-	-	-	-	-.290	31.353	42	548
JLY 16	31.250	31.250	31.250	31.250	-.198	31.250	7	28
Total							53,449	99,053