Silver prices spiked sharply Friday, breaking above key resistance and tapping a 13-year high at $37.62 as traders react to escalating U.S. trade war actions and the Federal Reserve’s dovish stance, echoing the gold market’s bullish underpinnings.
At 11:46 GMT, XAG/USD is trading $37.59, up $0.57 or +1.54%.
Federal Reserve Governor Waller signaled potential rate cuts, with San Francisco Fed’s Daly leaving two cuts on the table for this year. While U.S. jobless claims fell to 227,000, showcasing labor market resilience, it has not been enough to shift the Fed’s easing bias.
Lower rates historically bolster non-yielding assets like silver, aligning the metal’s current rally with gold’s broader support from a dovish Fed. This backdrop, combined with persistent geopolitical risks, is reinforcing traders’ preference to buy dips.
Silver’s breakout above $37.23 and $37.32 confirms bullish momentum, with the 13-year high at $37.62 marking a critical inflection point. While there is no precise upside target in the immediate term, the market is gravitating toward the psychological $40 level if momentum sustains.
Support is layered at $36.16, followed by $35.28, with the 50-day moving average at $34.90 offering major downside protection. As in gold, silver’s ability to hold above key moving averages will determine whether momentum traders add aggressively into rallies.
U.S. President Trump’s fresh tariff salvo—35% on Canada, 50% on Brazil, and looming 15%-20% tariffs on other partners—has amplified safe-haven flows into silver, much like gold, as markets brace for supply chain disruptions and countermeasures from trading partners.
The Canadian dollar and Brazilian real fell this week, highlighting the broader concern pulling capital into precious metals. With OPEC’s production policy keeping energy markets tense, traders are watching for spillover inflationary pressures that could further support silver’s bid.
Silver’s surge is underpinned by a combination of technical breakouts, trade war safety flows, and Fed easing expectations, leaving the market biased higher in the near term.
A clean push above $37.62 could trigger further buying, with traders targeting the $40 handle as the next psychological hurdle while using $36.16 as a trailing risk reference.
For now, silver’s correlation with gold’s fundamental support and a still-constructive technical backdrop suggest the metal is positioned to extend gains, provided the trade war narrative and rate cut expectations persist.
More Information in our Economic Calendar.
James Hyerczyk is a U.S. based seasoned technical analyst and educator with over 40 years of experience in market analysis and trading, specializing in chart patterns and price movement. He is the author of two books on technical analysis and has a background in both futures and stock markets.