Silver jumped more than 4% on Friday to trade above $92 per ounce, reaching its highest level in nearly two months as investors rotated into precious metals amid mounting trade and geopolitical risks. The white metal is drawing strong support from a broad "debasement trade" sparked by the US administration’s decision to invoke Section 122 and impose a 10% global tariff, with markets increasingly pricing in the risk of an escalation to 15% following the recent Supreme Court ruling.
This protectionist turn has overshadowed a “hot” January core PPI reading of 0.8%, which underpinned a resilient US Dollar and pushed expectations for the first fully priced Federal Reserve rate cut out to July. Despite these hawkish macro headwinds, silver’s advance is being supercharged by a flight to safety: yields on the US 10‑year Treasury fell below 4%, while investors unwound positions in AI‑infrastructure equities.
Geopolitical risk premia also remained elevated after the US State Department authorized the departure of non‑emergency personnel from its embassy in Israel due to security concerns.
