Silver Remains Lackluster

Silver Prices Remain Flat

Silver is showing little movement on Friday. In the European session, silver is trading at $17.43, down $0.11, or 0.62% on the day.

Chinese GDP Slows in Q3

Trade talks continue between China and the U.S., but the bitter tariff war continues to take its toll on the Chinese economy. Chinese GDP gained 6.0% in the third quarter, missing the forecast of 6.1%, and down from the 6.2% gains in the second quarter. This reading marked the lowest quarterly growth rate since 1992, when records were first kept. China’s economy has been losing steam since late 2017, and the current trade war has only made things worse. China’s manufacturing and export sectors have been hit hard, and the GDP underscores that the world’s second-largest economy remains gripped in a slow-down.

As for the trade talks, investors remain optimistic that the sides will reach a limited trade agreement. The “Phase 1” deal would be the first of up to three mini-agreements, allowing the sides to postpone dealing with thorny issues such as forced technology transfers to another time. The Trump administration has canceled tariffs that were scheduled to take effect this week. Still, the U.S. has yet to remove a new 15% tariff scheduled to commence on December 15 on $160 worth of Chinese goods. Silver prices have been fairly steady in the month of October, but that could quickly change, based on developments in the U.S-China talks.

Silver Technical Analysis

Silver has shown little appetite to move away from 17.50, and has been flat for most of the month of October. With the 50-EMA embedded on the candlesticks in this area, I expect this lack of activity to continue into next week. On the upside, the round number of 18.00 is stable. This line has remained intact since late September.