Silver Prices Little Changed Amid Renewed Dollar Strength

New York (Feb 22)  Silver prices were in a holding pattern Wednesday, as the U.S. dollar continued to strengthen against a basket of major currencies ahead of the latest reading of the FOMC minutes.

May silver futures slipped 2 cents, or 0.1%, to $18.05 a troy ounce at 7:26 am ET, according to Barchart. The contract fluctuated within a narrow range, having seen little upside during the day.

April gold futures were also in a holding pattern. Prices were virtually unchanged at $1,238.60 a troy ounce early Wednesday.

Silver’s rally has been held in check this week by a rebounding U.S. dollar. The dollar index, a measure of the greenback’s performance against a basket of six other major currencies, rose 0.3% on Wednesday to 101.66. That was its highest level since January 11.

The dollar strengthened against the euro, pound and Canadian dollar Wednesday morning.

In economic data, the United Kingdom’s GDP expanded 0.7% in the fourth quarter, higher than the preliminary reading of 0.6%, the Office for National Statistics reported on Wednesday. However, the annualized growth rate was revised down to 2% from 2.2%.

U.K. business investment unexpectedly declined by a seasonally adjusted 1% in the fourth quarter, following a gain of 0.4% in Q3.

In a separate report on Wednesday, the Eurozone consumer price index (CPI) was confirmed at 1.8% year-over-year in January. So-called core inflation was also unchanged at 0.9% year-over-year, official data showed.

Later in the day, the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of the January 31-February 1 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meeting, where officials voted to leave interest rates unchanged. Some analysts expect the central bank to adopt a more hawkish tone amid the latest surge in inflation. The U.S. consumer price index (CPI) rose at an annualized 2.5% in January, the highest in nearly four years.

Source: EconomicCalendar