NEW YORK, Jan 20, 2026, 17:11 EST — After-hours
Silver price hovered near a record on Tuesday after a burst above $95 an ounce, as President Donald Trump’s Greenland tariff threats jolted markets. Spot silver slipped 0.18% to $94.51 an ounce in late New York trade, after touching $95.87 earlier. “The geopolitical risks that we’ve been talking about for a long time are re-emerging,” said Wasif Latif of Sarmaya Partners, with the dollar index down 0.52% at 98.58 and EU leaders due to weigh possible retaliatory tariffs worth 93 billion euros ($109 billion) at a Thursday summit in Brussels. Reuters
Analysts said the rush into precious metals has been fed by political risk and a softer dollar, with attention on Trump’s expected meeting with global business leaders in Davos on Wednesday. “Gold has surged deeper into uncharted territory as investors hedge against rising political risk,” said Fawad Razaqzada, a market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com. Silver jumped about 147% in 2025 and has gained more than 32% so far this year; traders also priced two Federal Reserve cuts of 25 basis points each — a quarter of a percentage point — from mid-2026 after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump could name a new Fed chair as early as next week. Reuters
Silver sits in an awkward spot. It trades like a haven when nerves spike, but it is also tied to factory demand, so it can whip around when politics and growth fears collide.
In U.S. markets, the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) — a key exchange-traded fund that tracks spot silver, minus fees — closed up 5.39% at $85.39. It was up another 0.63% in after-hours trade.
Silver-linked miners moved with it. Pan American Silver ended up 6.20%, while First Majestic Silver rose 4.47% and Wheaton Precious Metals gained 4.68%.
Pan American added fresh company news into the mix, saying it expects attributable silver production of 25.0 million to 27.0 million ounces in 2026, with attributable gold production seen at 700,000 to 750,000 ounces. It also forecast silver segment all-in sustaining costs — a mining cost yardstick that includes ongoing capital spending — of $15.75 to $18.25 per ounce and said silver and gold output should be weighted to the second half of the year.
But silver has been moving in big steps, and it does not take much for the trade to unwind. If the White House tone softens, or the dollar snaps back on higher yields, the metal can give back gains fast.
Next up is the Fed’s Jan. 27-28 policy meeting, which lands just as markets debate how quickly the central bank can cut rates without re-igniting inflation.
