Silver Price Forecast: XAG/USD steady around $22.40 despite rising US T-bond yields post-NFP

• Nonfarm Payrolls came better than foreseen by analysts, despite being talked down by the White House.
• Silver edges higher 0.18%, following the US Dollar footsteps.
• XAG/USD failure to reclaim an upslope trendline exerts downward pressure on the white metal.

Silver (XAG/USD) trims Thursday’s losses as the North American session progresses. At the time of writing, XAG/USD is trading at $22.43, advances 0.18%. The market sentiment is mixed, with European bourses trading in the red meanwhile, US stock indices are in the green post-US employment report.

In the meantime, the US 10-year T-bond yield, which correlates negatively with silver, advances ten basis points, up to 1.932%, underpins the greenback. The US Dollar Index, a measurement of the buck’s value against a basket of six rivals, edges up 0.18%, sitting above 95.59. 

Nonfarm Payrolls rose above 450K, smashing expectations

Before Wall Street opened, the US Nonfarm Payrolls for January came at 467K more than the 150K, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed on Friday. During the week, White House economic advisers and Philadelphia’s Fed President Harker down talked about January’s employment report, which was expected worse than estimates, per the impact of the

Dissecting the NFP report, Average Hourly earnings rose by 5.7%, exerting further pressure on the Fed, as higher wages equals elevated inflation. Furthermore, the Unemployment Rate touched 4.0%, a tenth higher than the 3.9% estimated.

XAG/USD Price Forecast: Technical outlook

On Friday’s overnight session for North American traders, XAG/USD seesawed around the $22.40-64, $0.24 range. However, volatility picked up once American traders got to their desks and the US employment report hit the wires. The XAG/USD knee-jerk reaction sent silver towards February 3 daily low around $22.00, followed by a jump, towards $22.50, near the close of Thursday. 

That said, XAG/USD is downward biased. Failure to reclaim above an upslope trendline previous support-turned-resistance exerts downward pressure on the non-yielding metal. XAG/USD’s first support would be January 28 daily low at $22.18. A breach of it would expose the January 7 low at $21.94, followed by December 15 cycle low at $21.42.