LONDON, Feb 28, 2026, 10:53 GMT — The market has closed.
- Fresh risk premiums are in play after U.S.-Israel strikes hit Iran over the weekend, setting up a tense start for metals when trading resumes Monday.
- Spot silver surged 4.8% Friday, topping $92.60 an ounce and blasting through that $90 mark traders had been eyeing.
- Traders now eye Iran’s next move, potential oil supply disruptions, and the U.S. jobs data coming March 6.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday declared the United States had launched “major combat operations” in Iran. Israeli forces struck targets in the country while Iran fired missiles at Israel, setting the stage for a tense reopening for markets when trading picks up. Reuters
Timing is everything with silver. The metal pulls double duty as a haven and as a key industrial material, so it’s quick to spike on fear—then just as fast, it can swing as markets digest moves in oil, rate chatter, and growth signals.
Silver climbed sharply on Friday, pushing spot prices up 4.8% to $92.60 an ounce and setting up the metal for a 9.7% monthly advance. With U.S. Treasury yields dropping, non-yielding metals like silver found support. “It’s a risk-off in a flight to safety,” said Phillip Streible, chief market strategist at Blue Line Futures, citing worries about a possible military operation this weekend. Reuters
Plenty of chart-watchers had pegged $90 as the key hurdle. “Gold and silver are attempting to break above resistance levels … and $90,” wrote Razan Hilal, a market analyst at FOREX.com, earlier this week. Resistance marks a price area where rallies tend to lose steam, she noted, flagging “drawdown risks” if a geopolitical deal comes together. Reuters
Silver stocks surged alongside the metal late in the session. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV), one of the main U.S. bullion trackers, finished Friday at $84.99, jumping 5.64%.
Oil remains the key wild card. According to sources cited by Reuters, OPEC+ could weigh a bigger supply hike than initially outlined when the group gathers Sunday at 1100 GMT. Major producers have already ramped up exports, bracing for fallout from the recent U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran.
Silver bulls face a real risk: that initial headline-driven surge may not stick. Should retaliation stay limited or diplomacy make a rapid comeback, safe-haven demand could unravel just as quickly as it ramped up. Silver, notorious for swinging harder than most, tends to amplify both moves.
Rates remain stuck in the center of this trade. Better-than-expected U.S. data lifts yields and the dollar, squeezing dollar-priced metals. Softer figures, though, flip the script—rate-cut hopes come back, and metals catch a break.
All eyes are now on Friday’s U.S. jobs data. The February Employment Situation lands at 8:30 a.m. ET on March 6, and the numbers could quickly shift assumptions about the Fed’s direction as markets still process fresh tensions out of the Middle East.
