Investing.com - Silver futures tumbled 2% to hit a three-week low on Thursday, amid ongoing expectations the Federal Reserve will decide next week to begin tapering its asset purchase program. Moves in the silver price this year have largely tracked shifting expectations as to whether the U.S. central bank would end its bond-buying program sooner-than-expected. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, silver futures for December delivery traded at USD22.71 a troy ounce during European morning trade, down 2%. The December contract settled 0.68% higher at USD23.17 a troy ounce on Wednesday. Silver prices fell by as much as 2.35% earlier to hit a session low of USD22.63 a troy ounce, the weakest level since August 22. Silver prices were likely to find support at USD22.45 a troy ounce, the low from August 22 and resistance at USD24.13, the high from September 8. Market players looked ahead to weekly data on U.S. jobless claims later in the session for indications on the strength of the economic recovery. Silver traders have closely been looking out for U.S. data reports recently to gauge if they will strengthen or weaken the case for the Fed to reduce its bond purchases. The central bank is scheduled to meet September 17-18 to review the economy and assess policy. Elsewhere on the Comex, gold for December delivery lost 1.55% to trade at USD1,342.30 a troy ounce, the lowest level since August 15. Gold’s losses accelerated after prices broke below their 100-day moving average close to the USD1,356-level, triggering a flurry of automatic sell orders amid bearish chart signals. Meanwhile, copper for December fell 0.85% to trade at USD3.229 a pound.

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