Silver Soars, Markets Heed Fed's Dovish Signals
Silver prices surged to $39 an ounce on Friday, approaching a 14-year high of $39.50 reached in late July amid prospects for a Fed rate cut, as markets assess demand for silver for industrial purposes.
The catalyst came from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole, which opened the door to interest rate cuts starting in September. Markets responded quickly: yields fell, the dollar weakened—the DXY fell more than 0.7% to below 98—and risk assets and precious metals rallied. The probability of a 25-bps cut for the September meeting jumped to nearly 90%, from around 75% before the speech, reinforcing the bullish sentiment in gold and silver.
In the industrial sector, new data showed that solar cell exports from China grew more than 70% in the first half of the year, supported by stronger demand for photovoltaics from India. This comes after China installed more than 93 gigawatts of solar panels in May, a 300% annual surge to a new record high before a series of new policy changes made it more difficult to install panels on the grid.
Source: Newsmaker.id
