US Silver Scrap prices fall; Silver Futures drop to below $17 an ounce

NEW YORK (Scrap Register): United States silver scrap prices fell on Tuesday, while silver futures prices at New York Mercantile Exchange dropped to below $17 an ounce as investors prepared for a rate hike by the Federal Reserve while focusing on political developments in Europe.
The major silver scrap commodities on the Scrap Register Price Index declined by 0.121% on Tuesday. The hallmarked silver scrap prices dropped to $13.995 an ounce and non-hallmarked silver scrap prices down to $12.423 an ounce.
The most active May silver contract on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange fell by 4.9 cents to $16.923 an ounce on Tuesday.
The U.S. central bank will release its latest forecasts for economic growth and interest rates, known as the "dot-plot". Fed Chair Janet Yellen's post-meeting press conference will be closely watched for clues on the pace of future rate hikes. Fed officials previously projected three rate hikes in 2017, but that might move up to four, amid signs of an uptick in inflation and continued strength in the jobs market.