• Silver price attracts some sellers to around $46.65 in Friday’s Asian session.
• The US government shutdown delays US NFP data, boosting expectations of Fed rate cuts and supporting the Silver price. 
• Putin warned of a ‘new level of escalation’ if missiles were supplied to Ukraine. 

The Silver price (XAG/USD) declines to near $46.65 during the Asian trading hours on Friday. The white metal retreats from an all-time high on some profit-taking. The potential downside for silver might be limited amid safe-haven flows, bolstered by global uncertainty and growing bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) will need to ease policy further in the coming months.

The shutdown in the United States (US) has frozen key economic indicators, including the September Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) release, leaving traders without key data to assess the labor market. This, in turn, could exert some selling pressure on the US Dollar (USD) and lift the USD-denominated commodity price. Due to the US government shutdown, traders will digest private-sector job market projections instead of the highly anticipated NFP report. 

Furthermore, geopolitical risks in Russia and the Middle East could boost the safe-haven asset like Silver during periods of international instability. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that supplying US missiles to Ukraine would lead to a “whole new level of escalation,” including in relations between Moscow and Washington. The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the US will provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets deep inside Russia. 

Meanwhile, hawkish remarks from the Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan on Thursday could weigh on the Silver price. Lorie noted that the US central bank appropriately cut rates last month to guard against the risk of a sharp deterioration in the job market, but said that so far the cooling has been gradual and signaled she is not eager to cut rates further.