Silver prices hit a new three-year high on Thursday, trading above $28.50 an ounce for the first time since February 2021.
Prices spent most of the day trading a few cents either side of $28.00 an ounce, but the afternoon session saw prices rally to hit a fresh high of $28.54 an ounce.
Silver’s late gains were in line with gold prices, which saw a sustained increase to as high as $2,380 an ounce on Thursday.
Recent figures suggest interest rate traders are now pricing in a first US interest rate cut happening in September, compared with most bets being on a June cut until recently. On the surface of it, this higher-for-longer scenario for interest rates would be bearish for precious metals as non-interest-bearing assets.
However, gold has recently defied the signals coming from macroeconomic data, taking support from an increase in geopolitical risks, and gold’s strength appears to have filtered through to support silver prices.
Looking ahead, Friday will see the US Michigan Consumer Sentiment figures for April, which feed into the wider picture on monetary policy by the US Fed, while Monday will see US retail sales figures for March.
Then on Tuesday, industrial production figures are due for release from China, giving a further signal on industrial demand for silver in the world’s second largest economy.
Frank’s experience covering the commodities markets spans 22 years, with a particular specialism in metals, carbon and energy markets. He has worked as a senior editor for S&P Global Commodity Insights (formerly Platts) and before this, at ICIS-LOR, a part of Reed Business Information (Reed Elsevier), where he covered the petrochemicals markets from 2003 to 2005.
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