Silver Price Down 3% As Markets Digest July Jobs Report

New York (Aug 5)  While gold prices are starting to see more aggressive selling pressure, it is the selloff in silver that is grabbing investor attention Friday morning.

Selling pressure in the precious metals market has picked up since the start of the North American equity open as investors continue to digest the impact of a much stronger employment report. The U.S. Labor Department said that 255,000 jobs were created in July, well above expectation for gains of 180,000 jobs. 

December gold futures last traded at $1,344.8 an ounce, down 1.66% while September silver futures last traded at $19.810 an ounce, down 2.10% on the day. The selloff comes as equity markets push higher with the Dow Jones industrial up 142 points and the S&P 500 up 15 points.

Although there is some sticker shock when looking at silver’s selloff analysts say it is nothing to be overly concerned about.

“People have to stop watching the percentage move, up or down, in silver,” said Bill Baruch, senior commodity broker at iiTrader.com. “Silver has been swinging in a 50-cent range lately so while this looks big, it is within its relatively normal range.”

Phillip Streible, market strategist at RJOFutures, said that it is not too surprising seeing the selloff in silver, given that the market has recently been outperforming gold.

“Silver has been overextended the last few weeks and I think we are now seeing some of that come off,” he said.

While speculative positioning in gold has shown a reduction in net long positions in the last few weeks, silver continues to see high demand with long positioning hitting new record levels.

Ultimately, Streible said that he is optimistic on gold and silver as investors continue to look for safe-haven assets in a world of growing negative bond yields.

Source: KitcoNews