IV:Silver futures trade near 5-month low on Fed taper fears
Investing.com - Silver prices traded at the lowest level since July on Tuesday, amid mounting concerns the Federal Reserve will begin to taper its bond-buying program sooner rather than later.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, silver futures for March delivery traded at USD19.19 a troy ounce during European morning trade, down 0.5%.
Comex silver prices fell to a session low of USD19.14 a troy ounce earlier, the weakest level since July 10.
The March contract plunged 3.71% on Monday to end at USD19.28 a troy ounce.
Futures were likely to find support at USD18.98 a troy ounce, the low from July 10 and resistance at USD20.01, the high from December 2.
Monday’s steep decline came after the Institute for Supply Management said that manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded at the fastest rate since April 2011 in November.
The upbeat data reinforced expectations that the Fed will begin to reduce monetary stimulus at one of its next few meetings.
Investors now looked ahead to key U.S. economic data later in the week to further gauge the strength of the economy and the need for stimulus.
The U.S. is to release data on third quarter gross domestic product on Thursday, while November’s closely-watched nonfarm payrolls report is scheduled for Friday.
The Federal Reserve, which holds its next meeting on December 17-18, has said the timing of its tapering depends on the health of the labor and housing markets.
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 inched up 0.1% to trade at USD1,223.10 a troy ounce, while copper for March delivery fell 0.4% to trade at USD3.170 a pound.
