Silver Plunges to a One-Year Low as Oil Spike Lifts Rate Fears

The session's most unusual move was Silver, several times the size of its usual day. On Friday, October 23, trading finished with Silver -5.4%, recording Silver, its lowest close in a year.

The drop in silver was part of a broader slide across metals. The metal finished the day with Gold -2.4%, having slid below $4,000 during trading. Precious metals came under heavy pressure after surging crude oil prices renewed inflation fears, driving up Treasury yields and reinforcing expectations that borrowing costs will remain high. In addition, margin calls triggered by a selloff in technology shares prompted investors to liquidate liquid commodity positions to raise cash.

Crude oil climbed as rising energy prices bolstered interest rate hike bets. That energy rally cascaded into financial markets, contributing to broader equity declines tied to tech valuations and compounding the rise in bond yields that punished non-yielding assets.

On Friday, October 23, major foreign currencies weakened against the dollar as higher U.S. yields supported the greenback. The session concluded with the euro -0.1% against the dollar, the pound -0.2% against the dollar, and the yen -0.2% against the dollar.

In digital assets, price action was quiet, with Bitcoin -0.3% and Ethereum -0.1%.

In round-the-clock trading since Friday's close, prices moved further as of 10:40 am New York, with silver -0.9% and gold -0.2%.

What to Watch

The upcoming week features a heavy schedule of central bank rate decisions and macroeconomic data releases. The Federal Reserve will conclude its two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday. On the same day, the Bank of Canada issues its interest rate announcement and monetary policy report. On Thursday, the European Central Bank will announce its latest policy decision. The Bank of Japan wraps up its two-day meeting on Friday. In economic reporting, the advance reading of third-quarter gross domestic product and the personal consumption expenditures price index will arrive Thursday morning on the economic indicator calendar.