Silver hovers near three-week trough ahead of US jobs data

Silver prices fell in European trade on Friday, resuming losses and almost touching a three-week trough, and on track for the second weekly loss in a row as dollar muscles up.

The odds for an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve in March declined following the release of the latest Fed's meeting minutes, in addition to strong US labor data. 

Now investors await the crucial US payrolls report later today to get better clues on the path ahead for US monetary policies. 

Silver Prices 

Silver prices fell 0.35% to $22.94 an ounce, with a session-high at $23.20, after closing up 0.1% on Thursday, the first profit in five days away from a three-week trough at $22.69. 

Weekly Trades 

Silver prices are down 3.5% so far this week on track for the second weekly loss in a row.

The Dollar Index

The dollar index rose 0.4% today to a three-week high at 102.8 against a basket of major rivals, pressuring dollar-denominated metals futures. 

Fed's Meeting Minutes 

The Federal Reserve's December 13 meeting minutes showed that policymakers believe interest rates should remain high for an extended duration.

Members believe that interest rate cuts would be more appropriate by the end of the year.

The minutes showed a clearly cautious stance on inflation and interest rates and hurt the odds of multiple early US interest rate cuts this year.

US Rates

Following the release of the Federal Reserve's December meeting minutes, the odds of the first US interest rate cut in March 2024 fell to 65%.

Now investors await the crucial US payrolls report later today to gauge the likely path ahead for monetary policies.

The US economy is expected to have added 168 thousand new jobs last month, down from 199 thousand in November, while unemployment are expected up to 3.8% from 3.7%.