IV:Silver futures inch higher ahead of Fed speakers
Investing.com - Silver prices inched higher on Monday, as traders looked ahead to speeches from a number of Federal Reserve officials later in the day for further indications on the future course of U.S. monetary policy.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, silver futures for March delivery traded at USD19.56 a troy ounce during European morning trade, up 0.2%. Comex silver prices traded in a range between USD19.43 a troy ounce and USD19.61 a troy ounce.
The March contract shed 0.24% on Friday to settle at USD19.52 a troy ounce.
Futures were likely to find support at USD19.16 a troy ounce, the low from December 6 and resistance at USD19.78, the high from December 6.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard will speak on monetary policy in St. Louis at 6:05 p.m. Eastern, while Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher will speak on the economic outlook in Chicago at 7:15 p.m.
Data released Friday showed that the U.S. economy added 203,000 jobs in November, above expectations for jobs growth of 180,000. The unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 7.0% from 7.3% in October.
The robust data raised the possibility that the Fed may start to scale back its USD85 billion-a-month asset purchase program as soon as its next monthly meeting on December 17 - 18.
Silver is down approximately 37% this year as solid U.S. economic data underlined expectations the Fed will begin curbing stimulus.
Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for February delivery was flat to trade at USD1,228.90 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery dipped 0.2% to trade at USD3.242 a pound.
Data released earlier showed that consumer price inflation in China rose 3% in November, in line with expectations and slowing from 3.2% in October.
The inflation report came one day after data showed that China’s trade surplus widened to USD33.8 billion last month from a surplus of USD31.1 billion in October, compared to estimates for a surplus of USD21.7 billion.
Chinese exports climbed 12.7% from a year earlier, beating expectations for a 7.1% increase and following a 5.6% gain in October. Imports rose 5.3%, compared to forecasts for a 7.2% increase.
Market players now looked ahead to a raft of Chinese economic data later in the week, including reports on inflation, industrial production and retail sales.
The Asian nation is the world’s largest copper consumer, accounting for almost 40% of world consumption last year.
