XAG/USD steady around $22.40 despite rising US T-Bond yields post-NFP

• Nonfarm payrolls came out better than analysts had predicted, despite being talked down by the White House.
• Silver is up 0.18%, following the US dollar’s footsteps.
• XAG/USD’s failure to reclaim an ascending trendline is putting downward pressure on the white metal.

Silver (XAG/USD) pares Thursday’s losses during the North American session. At the time of writing, XAG/USD is trading at $22.43, up 0.18%. Market sentiment is mixed, meanwhile European bourses are trading in the red, US stock indices are in the green in the post-US jobs report.

Meanwhile, the US 10-year T-bond yield, which is negatively correlated with silver, rose 10 basis points to 1.932%, supporting the greenback. The US Dollar Index, a measure of the dollar’s value against a basket of six peers, is up 0.18% to above 95.59.

Nonfarm Payrolls rose to over 450,000, beating expectations

Before Wall Street opened, the US Nonfarm Payrolls for January was 467k above the 150k figure, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revealed on Friday. During the week, White House economic advisers and Philadelphia Fed President Harker discussed the January jobs report, which was expected to be worse than estimates

Analyzing the NFP report, average hourly wages rose 5.7%, putting further pressure on the Fed as higher wages equate to increased inflation. In addition, the unemployment rate reached 4.0%, a tenth higher than the estimated 3.9%.

XAG/USD Price Prediction: Technical Outlook

On Friday’s overnight session for North American traders, XAG/USD fluctuated around the $22.40-$64 range, $0.24. However, volatility increased as US traders got to their desks and the US jobs report was released. XAG/USD’s knee-jerk reaction sent silver towards the daily low of February 3 around $22.00, followed by a jump towards $22.50 late Thursday.

However, XAG/USD is trending down. Failure to reclaim prior support turned resistance above a rising trendline will put downward pressure on the unyielding metal. Initial XAG/USD support would be the daily low of Jan 28 at $22.18. A break would reveal the January 7th low at $21.94, followed by the December 15th cycle low at $21.42.