Silver Prices Notch Six-Week High Following NFP Disappointment
New York (June 5) Silver prices held near six-week highs in narrow trade on Monday, as the U.S. dollar recovered only slightly from eight-month lows.
July silver futures traded at $17.53 a troy ounce at 7:30 a.m. ET, virtually unchanged from the previous session’s close. The futures contract traded within a narrow range of $17.50 and $17.59 through the overnight session.
Silver rose 1.4% last week for its fourth consecutive weekly advance. The futures contract has now gained more than 9% since May 9, which was the last year-to-date low.
Gold prices forged ahead early Monday, with the August futures contract adding $2.40, or 0.2%, to $1,282.60 a troy ounce.
Gold’s premium over silver fell on Friday to 73.01 ounces. The gold/silver ratio has declined in lockstep with the grey metal’s recovery over the past three weeks.
Precious metals surged Friday after U.S. government data showed much smaller than expected jobs growth in May, casting doubts about the Federal Reserve’s ability to normalize monetary policy more quickly. The Fed is widely expected to hike interest rates next week, but the outlook beyond June is less certain.
A weaker jobs report sent the U.S. dollar index to fresh eight-month lows. It was last seen trading at 96.90, up 0.2% from Friday’s close.
U.S. employers added 138,000 workers to payrolls last month, as unemployment fell to a fresh 16-year low. A falling jobless rate came at the expense of workforce participation, which dipped 0.2 percentage point to 62.7%.
From a data perspective, the second week of the month offers much less compelling releases on the U.S. economic calendar. Globally, a spate of high-profile releases are expected from China, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
On the monetary policy front, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and European Central Bank (ECB) are scheduled to deliver interest rate statements later this week.
Source: EconomicCalendar
