Silver prices rose on Thursday, extending gains for the third straight day, and hit a 2-week high while on track for the first weekly gain in 5 weeks, thanks to strong safe-haven demand due to concerns about accelerating inflation in most parts of the world.

Silver prices rose 0.9% to the highest since December 1st at $22.67 an ounce, after opening at $22.46, and hit a day high at $22.40.

Silver closed higher by 1.8 % yesterday, the second straight daily gain, and the largest daily gain since November 11.

Silver prices gained 2.2% so far this week, to head for the first weekly gain in 5 weeks, thanks to strong safe-haven demand.

Demand for safe haven assets increased strongly this week, due to warnings by global banks about the rising inflation levels, in addition to taking strict monetary policy measures to counter this danger.

The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it will move quickly in cutting its bond purchases by next March, and hinted three rate hikes by the end of 2022

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed more flexibility to raise interest rates sooner, and said that the economy no longer needs increasing support, especially after prices and wages grew, and the rapid improvement in the labor market.

The Bank of England surprised the markets after it decided to raise interest rates by 15 basis points to 0.25%, in the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

The European Central Bank said it would reduce bond purchases in the coming period, but ruled out raising European interest rates in the next year.

European stocks fell on Friday, and gave up the 1-week high hit yesterday, on profit-taking and investors' risk aversion, amid renewed fears about the the coronavirus variant Omicron.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell more than 0.7% as of 09:15 GMT, after it closed higher by 1.2% yesterday, and hit a 1-week high at 479.04 points.

The automotive sector saw the largest loss in Europe today, with a drop of over 1.5%, as most major auto stocks fell.

New cases of the Omicron variant are doubling every two days in Denmark, South Africa and the UK, which has renewed concerns about the quick spread of the new coronavirus variant.

Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen warned the government may impose further curbs to limit the spread of Omicron in the country, and companies in the US canceled their plans to return employees to their offices due to the widespread spread of the Omicron variant.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.5% today ahead of Wall Street's opening, after the index lower 0.9% due to profit-taking from a 3-week high.

Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.7%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.7%, and Germany's DAX index fell 0.8%, while the UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.4%.

Sterling fell in European trade against dollar away from three-week highs on profit-taking, on track for the second weekly profit in a row, after Bank of England's surprise decision to hike rates for the first time since 2018.

Sterling fell 0.1% against dollar to 1.3306, with an intraday high at 1.3338, after closing up 0.45%, marking three-week highs at 1.3375. 

Sterling is still up 0.5% on the dollar this week on track for the second weekly profit in a row. 

The BoE surprised markets on Thursday by hiking rates by 15 basis points to 0.25%, the first increase since August, 2018.

eight out of nine members voted in favor of the rate hike, due to the surging inflation rates in the country, with the bank paving the way for another hike next February.

Gold prices rose on Thursday, extending gains for the third straight day, breaking the $1,800 psychological barrier, and hit a 3-week high while on track for the biggest weekly gain in 5 weeks, thanks to strong safe-haven demand due to increasing warnings by global banks about the rising inflation levels.

Gold prices rose 0.6% to the highest since November 26 at $1,809.90 an ounce, after opening at $1,799.35, and hit a day high at $1,797.25.

Gold closed higher by 1.25% yesterday, the second straight daily gain, as the US dollar fell against a basket of major currencies.

Gold prices gained 1.5% so far this week, to head for the biggest weekly gain in 5 weeks, thanks to strong safe-haven demand.

The central banks of the US, the UK, Europe and Japan, raised inflation expectations for 2022 during their meetings this week, and most of them projected that the peak levels of price hikes have not been reached yet, setting the second quarter of 2022 to reach those levels.

The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday that it will move quickly in cutting its bond purchases by next March, and hinted three rate hikes by the end of 2022

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed more flexibility to raise interest rates sooner, and said that the economy no longer needs increasing support, especially after prices and wages grew, and the rapid improvement in the labor market.

The Bank of England surprised the markets after it decided to raise interest rates by 15 basis points to 0.25%, in the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

The European Central Bank said it would reduce bond purchases in the coming period, but ruled out raising European interest rates in the next year.

International Monetary Fund spokesman Gerry Rice said the Federal Reserve's decision to ramp up the tapering of bond purchases is a well-calibrated, proportionate response to rising wage and price pressures, but increases risks for emerging markets.

Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF remained unchanged yesterday, with the total at the lowest level since last November 17 of 977.70 metric tonnes.