Silver Price Forecast: XAG/USD trades lower around $31.50, US economic data awaited

Silver prices extended its losses for the second successive day, trading around $31.40 per troy ounce during the Asian hours on Thursday. The price of the grey metal is struggling as investors adopt caution ahead of the release of US Gross Domestic Product Annualized (Q1) data on Thursday and the Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index figures on Friday.

US economic growth on an annualized basis for the first quarter is expected to grow by 1.3%, lower than the previous quarter’s 1.6% rise. Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, US Core PCE is expected to show an increase of 0.3% month-over-month and 2.8% year-over-year in April.

Hawkish remarks from US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials have heightened concerns about potential rate hikes, fueling risk aversion sentiment. This has supported US Treasury yields while negatively impacting non-yielding assets like Silver.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Neel Kashkari, President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, hinted at the possibility of a rate hike. Kashkari remarked, “I don’t believe anyone has completely ruled out the option of increasing rates,” expressing doubts about the disinflationary trend. Additionally, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic stated that the path to 2% inflation is not assured and that the breadth of price gains is still significant.

In the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, traditional safe-haven assets such as Silver could see an uptick in demand. The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that it had attained "operational control" over the Philadelphi Corridor, a 14-kilometer (8.7 miles) strip of land along the border between Gaza and Egypt, as reported by CNN.