Silver Price Analysis: XAG/USD hits fresh more than two-month lows in $23.20s as buck advance continues

• XAG/USD continues to trade with a downside bias and hit more than two-month lows in the $23.20s on Wednesday.
• The buck continues to advance, weighing on the pair, amid risk-off flows, geopolitical jitters and Fed tightening bets.

Continued buck buoyancy against the backdrop of still very jittery global market risk appetite (US stocks have pared earlier gains to trade flat again and remain near weekly lows) has kept spot silver (XAG/USD) prices trading with a negative bias. XAG/USD continues to struggle on rebounds back towards its 200-Day Moving Average at $23.83 per troy ounce, with the precious metal printing a fresh more than two-month lows on Wednesday in the $23.20s.

Upcoming US GDP and Core PCE inflation data on Thursday and Friday will likely underpin expectations for the Fed to hike interest rates by 50 bps next week and at its coming meetings, which should, alongside concerning geopolitical developments in Europe, keep USD well supported in the coming days. If stocks resume their recent drop, which seems more likely than not at this stage, falling US (and global) yields on safe-haven bond demand might slow the pace of any XAG/USD decline, but bears will nonetheless be eyeing a test of $23.00.

In the slightly longer-term, bears will target test of annual lows in the $22.00 area, with recent failures to get back above the 200DMA and resistance at $24.00 a bearish sign for XAG/USD, so technicians say. But technicians have also warned that the recent build-up of USD long positions is becoming overstretched. A period of likely means a break below $23.00 isn’t on the cards before the end of this month.