NEW YORK (Scrap Register): United States silver scrap prices plunged 5 percent on Thursday, while silver futures prices at New York Mercantile Exchange fell to below $16 an ounce as the US dollar soared to new highs in the wake of the Fed’s first interest rate increase since last December.
The major silver scrap commodities on the Scrap Register Price Index declined sharply on Thursday. The hallmarked silver scrap prices plunged by 5.6 percent to $13.287 an ounce and non-hallmarked silver scrap prices down to $11.794 an ounce.
The most active March silver contract on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange plunged by $1.12 or 7.2 percent to settled at $15.958 an ounce on Thursday, with prices seeing their worst finish since June. 
Precious metals are being severely pressured by a soaring US dollar in the wake of the Fed’s first rate hike this year. The dollar index shot up another 1.2% to 102.96, its highest in around 14 years. 
While the Fed’s decision to lift interest rates by 25bps on Wednesday was hardly a surprise, policymakers signaled for faster policy tightening in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise election victory.