Silver futures fall as hawkish Fed offsets industrial demand

July Silver futures experienced a sharp pullback, dropping over 6% to test its 50-week moving average. The downturn follows a more hawkish tone from the Federal Reserve under Chair Wash, where the latest dot plot revealed expectations for further interest rate hikes by the end of the year. Because silver is a non-yielding asset, higher real yields increase competition from cash and money market instruments, weighing heavily on the metals quadrant. However, the long-term outlook remains insulated by robust industrial demand. The expansion of AI infrastructure, data centers, solar panel production, and electric vehicles continues to reinforce structural demand for the metal's unique power conductivity properties.