LONDON, March 16, 2026, 18:31 GMT
Spot silver, the price for immediate delivery, was flat at $80.52 an ounce by 1731 GMT on Monday as traders weighed a softer dollar against fresh worries that oil-driven inflation could keep U.S. rates higher for longer. Gold fell 0.5% on the day, while platinum gained 3.9% and palladium rose 3.1%, leaving silver lagging its precious-metals peers. Reuters
The timing matters. The Federal Reserve starts its March 17-18 meeting on Tuesday, and the market is trying to judge whether war-driven energy costs will keep policymakers cautious on rate cuts. Reuters reported oil is still up more than 60% this year after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, even as the dollar has backed off a 10-month peak. Reuters
“With higher oil prices comes higher inflation,” Bob Haberkorn, senior market strategist at RJO Futures, told Reuters. If that keeps central banks from cutting rates, it is a bad mix for bullion, which does not pay interest. Reuters
Silver has another layer that gold does not. It is also an industrial metal used in jewellery, electronics, electric vehicles and solar panels, and the Silver Institute said last month the market is heading for a sixth straight structural deficit, where demand runs ahead of supply. The group expects physical investment to rise 20% this year even as industrial fabrication slips 2%. Reuters
That support has not killed the swings. Silver dropped 3.5% to $85.34 on March 11 and lost another 3.3% to $81.00 on Friday, after a brutal early-February washout. Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, said then that “volatility remains elevated.” Reuters
The metal is also still far below the Jan. 29 record of $121.60. JPMorgan said on Feb. 5 that rich silver valuations left it vulnerable to sharper pullbacks in broader market selloffs, though the bank saw a near-term floor around $75-$80 and a recovery toward $90 next year. Reuters
Rhona O’Connell, head of market analysis at StoneX, wrote on Monday that silver was “finding support just below $80” after retreating from triple-digit prices. She added that, unless Gulf tensions worsen, the market may need “a breather.” StoneX
But high prices are starting to hit demand at the margin. Reuters reported last month that solar manufacturers were speeding up work on copper-based technologies to curb costs, and LONGi Green Energy said it planned mass production of base-metal designs between April and June. Reuters
For now, silver is caught between macro pressure and a market still supported by industrial and investment demand. A softer dollar and geopolitical stress can keep a floor under prices, but a hawkish Fed, firmer yields or faster substitution in solar could reopen the selloff. That leaves traders focused on whether silver can hold the $80 area that StoneX and JPMorgan have flagged as a key support zone. Reuters
