Silver Prices on Track for Second Straight Weekly Drop

London (April 28)  Silver prices rose Friday but were on track for large weekly declines, as precious metals fell out of favor with investors after the first round of the French elections.

July silver futures advanced 7 cents, or 0.4%, to $17.41 a troy ounce at 7:35 a.m. ET. The futures contract hovered within a daily range of $17.28 and $17.45. Prices are down nearly 3% for the week.

Gold futures also suffered a large setback this week, as the market corrected from a previous attempt at the elusive $1,300.00 level. The June futures contract added $2.70, or 0.2%, to trade at $1,268.60 a troy ounce Friday morning.

The gold/silver ratio climbed this week to its highest level since November. On Thursday, the ratio was 73.19. That essentially states that 73.19 ounces of silver are needed to buy one ounce of gold.

The U.S. dollar, which normally trades inversely with gold and silver, was back on the defensive Friday. The dollar index, a broad performance measure of the buck, fell 0.3% to 98.80.

Precious metals declined sharply in the front half of the week in belated response to Emmanuel Macron’s strong showing in the first round of France’s presidential election. Macron is the favorite to win the presidency when he squares off against Marine Le Pen in a winner-take-all runoff May 7.

French election optimism combined with upbeat corporate earnings to lift global equities to fresh highs. French stocks soared to more than nine-year highs, while the broader European markets reached their highest levels since 2015. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 Index approached new records, while the Nasdaq set multiple highs.

European equities were on track for losses on Friday. Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were trading slightly higher ahead of Friday’s open.

Source: EconomicCalendar