Silver Price News: Silver Climbs to Eight-Week High

Silver prices put in a solid performance on Tuesday, rising to an eight-week high as precious metals saw increased interest amid worries over threats to international trade.

Prices climbed as high as $32.56 an ounce on Tuesday, up from around $31.72 an ounce in late trades on Monday. However, prices eased lower to around $32.18 an ounce later in the session to pare the day-on-day gains.

Silver shines as gold hits fresh highs

Silver’s gains came in the context of fresh all-time highs for gold prices on Tuesday, as the markets took support from worries over the global economic outlook. Recently announced US tariffs against Chinese imports were met with targeted levies by China against certain US goods. While these new border charges between the world’s two largest economies remain limited, they do highlight the risk of a wider trade war that could involve other countries – an outcome that already supports renewed interest in perceived safe-haven assets like precious metals.

US figures bolster case for rate cuts

Adding further support, the US JOLTs job openings and factory orders figures for December both came in well below market expectations on Tuesday. The weaker-than-expected economic data strengthened the case for further interest rate cuts by the US Fed this year, which may be needed to reduce business borrowing costs to stimulate the economy. Lower interest rates tend to support precious metals prices as they cut the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets.

Upcoming data

Looking ahead, the markets will be watching out for Wednesday’s euro area HCOB services PMI figures for January, for the latest health check on business activity in Europe. This will be followed by the US ISM services PMI figures for January. Beyond that, Thursday will bring the weekly US initial jobless claims figures, followed by Friday’s non-farm payrolls, providing the latest snapshot on the US employment picture.