Silver Price Analysis: XAG/USD regains $23.00, bears still in command

XAG/USD jumped back above $23.000 and hit a daily high of $23.15
The USD is trading softer, but US yields remain high.
All eyes are now on Wednesday’s US CPI from August.

On Monday, precious metals are recovering ground after seeing sharp losses last week, with the Gold and Silver prices seeing daily gains. The XAG/USD stands at $23.00 and failed to maintain its momentum, which took the price to $23.15, depicting that the bears have the upperhand and limit any attempt of the buyers to make a significant upward movement.

A softer USD consolidating last week’s gains could explain the daily advance. However, US Treasury bond yields, often seen as the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding metals, are rising ahead of Wednesday’s inflation figures from the US and limiting the upside for the grey metal. Markets expect that inflation accelerated in August, with the Headline and Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) advancing by 0.5% and 0.2% MoM, respectively.

In line with this, the 10-year bond yield reached 4.29%, up by 0.87%. The 2-year yield stands neutral at 4.99%, while the 5-year yield rose to 4.42%, seeing 0.48% gains. It’s worth noticing that US yields remain high as, according to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are discounting high odds of one last hike by the Federal Reserve (Fed), and as long as hawkish bets are high, the upside potential for metals is limited.

XAG/USD Levels to watch

Based on the daily chart, a bearish stance is noted for XAG/USD in the short term. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is comfortably situated in negative territory below its midline, displaying a southward slope. In addition, the presence of red bars on the Moving Average Convergence Divergence’s (MACD) histogram further reinforces the strengthening bearish sentiment. On the other hand, the pair is below the 20,100 and 200-day Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), and cofirms the continued dominance of bears on a broader scale.

Support levels: $22.60, $22.30, $22.00

Resistance levels: $23.50 (20 and 200-day SMA convergence), $23.70, $24.00.