Silver prices fell on Wednesday, resuming losses after taking a breather yesterday within recovery from a 3-week low, while today's drop come due to worries over China's demand.
Silver prices fell more than 0.6% to $23.65 an ounce, after opening at $23.85, and hit a high of $23.85.
Silver closed higher by 0.55% yesterday, the fourth gain in 3 days, after it hit a 3-week low at $23.37 on Monday.
Silver prices rose on Tuesday after the release of weak inflation data n the US.
Data showed today that Chinese retail sales fell to the lowest level in a year in August, rising by 2.5%, lower than forecasts of 6.9%, from a rise by 8.5% in July.
The data sparked concerns about the world's second largest economy and the largest consumer of metals and commodities.
European stocks fell on Wednesday, on track for the first loss in 3 session, due to investors' risk aversion amid fears over the Chinese economy after the release of disappointing data.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index fell more than 0.3% as of 10:55 GMT, after closing flat yesterday, while it closed higher by 0.3% on Monday, within recovery from its 3-week low of 463.82 points.
The retail sector saw the largest loss in Europe today, with a drop of over 2%, due to concern about the third quarter sales.
Data showed that Chinese retail sales fell to the lowest level in a year in August, rising by 2.5%, lower than forecasts of 6.9%, from a rise by 8.5% in July.
The data sparked concerns about the world's second largest economy, especially as the retail sales index is a key gauge of consumer spending, which accounts for more than 70% of GDP.
S&P 500 futures fell less than 0.1% today ahead of Wall Street's opening, after the index closed lower by 0.6% yesterday, and hit its 4-week low at 4,435.46 points.
Back to Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 0.4%, France's CAC 40 fell 0.6%, Germany's DAX index fell 0.2%, and the UK's FTSE 100 fell less than 0.1%.
Oil prices rose on Wednesday, for the third day in a row, and hit a 6-week high, after the release of preliminary data on US crude inventories that showed a drop, and ahead of the EIA's weekly report.
US crude rose 0.75% to the highest since August 3 at $71.27 a barrel, after opening at $70.74, and hit a low at $70.68, and Brent crude rose 0.7% to the highest since August 2 at $74.38 a barrel, after opening at $73.88, and hit a low at $73.80.
The US crude gained 0.2% yesterday, and Brent crude rose 0.3%, in the third straight gain, due to concerns about US supplies.
The American Petroleum Institute reported in preliminary data that the US crude inventories fell 5.4 million barrels during the week ending September 10, while analysts forecast a drop by 3.5 million barrels.
The total US commercial inventories fell to 430 million barrels, which is the lowest level since the week ending October 4, 2019, in a positive sign of the US domestic demand.
The US Energy Information Administration's official data will be released later today, amid forecasts for inventories to drop by 3.6 million barrels.
Gold prices fell on Wednesday, and pulled back from a week high on profit-taking, but today's loss is being curbed by falling dollar.
Gold prices fell 0.3% to $1,798.88 an ounce, after opening at $1,804.28, and hit a high of $1,804.64.
Gold closed higher by 0.6% yesterday, and hit a 1-week high at $1,808.66 after weak US inflation data.
The dollar index fell over 0.2% today against a basket of major rivals.
The greenback's drop comes on the back of weak inflation data in the US, which raised doubts about tightening the US monetary policy.
The data eased fears of rising inflationary pressures in the US, and led to a drop in the 10-year US Treasury bond yield, which fell more than 3% on Tuesday and hit a 3-week low at 1.263%.
Gold stocks at the SPDR ETF remained unchanged yesterday, with the total at the highest level since September 1st at 1,000.21 metric tonnes.