Spot Silver climbed to a fresh one-week high of $31.49 on Friday amid broad-based US Dollar weakness and an escalating trade conflict between the US and China.
The US Dollar Index was last down 1.21% to 99.694, its lowest level in almost three years. A weaker dollar makes dollar-priced Silver more appealing to international investors holding other currencies.
The Trump administration announced this week a 90-day pause on tariffs that exceed the 10% baseline for most of the United States’ trade partners. Yet, China was notably excluded from this reprieve. What is more, the administration’s subsequent clarification to CNBC on Thursday revealed the full extent of the tariffs now levied on Chinese imports, an eye-watering cumulative rate of 145%.
Investors are concerned that China may raise levies on US goods beyond the present 84%.
Meanwhile, the latest CPI data out of the US added to the case for additional interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Annual headline consumer inflation has eased more than expected to 2.4% in March from 2.8% in February. And, annual core CPI inflation eased to 2.8% in March to mark the lowest rate since March 2021.
The minutes of the FOMC meeting in March showed that policy makers expected inflation would be pushed higher this year because of the impact of elevated tariffs, though they acknowledged considerable uncertainty over the magnitude and persistence of these effects.
Markets are now expecting the Federal Reserve will likely resume monetary policy easing in June, while pricing in 100 basis points of rate cuts by year-end.
Spot Silver was last up 0.76% on the day to trade at $31.46 per troy ounce.
The commodity was set to register its best weekly performance since mid-October 2024, gaining 6.21% so far this week.
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