Sentence:  The Peiping Chinese <WSD>were</WSD> the only major silver seller in the world markets who stopped selling the metal on Monday morning , November 27 , anticipating by two days the announcement of the U. S. Treasury that the pegged offering price will be removed . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)