Silver hits month highs as dollar retreats

Silver futures rose nearly one percent in Asian trade to November 5 highs, as the dollar index backed off November 13 highs for the fourth session out of five, in a day that lacks major data releases from the US. 

As of 07:55 GMT, silver futures due in March rose 0.77% to $14.61 an ounce, marking month highs, while the dollar index shed 0.08% to 96.96, plumbing November 22 lows. 

Federal Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams isheld a press conference about local employment and labor force trends at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, earlier today.  

A scheduled Congress testimony by Fed Chair Jerome Powell tomorrow Wednesday was delayed after President Donald Trump declared the day an official holiday in honor of late President George H.W Bush. 

Later this week, Powell will speak about the economy and rural America at the Housing Assistance Council's annual event, in Washington DC, while the payrolls report is expected to show no change in the unemployment rate at 3.7%. 

On Sunday, the White House released a statement of the dinner attended by world leaders at the G20 Summit, with both President Donald Trump and Xiu Jinping discussing the trade dispute between the two countries. 

The statement noted that Trump agreed to hold off raising tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese product by January 2019, as US and Chinese officials will continue to negotiate the hanging trade issues in the next 90 days. 

Trump and Jinping reached an agreement to hold off the reciprocal tariffs for three months until negotiations progress far enough. 

Otherwise, the Federal Open Market Committee's minutes for the November 7-8 meeting indicated another rate hike soon enough, while policymakers discussed the appropriate timeline to halt hikes and the path of policy tightening.