This Silver Price News Today Pushes the Metal Closer to Our 2017 Target

In silver price news today (Friday, June 2), prices are up 1.3%, and we think they're going even higher by the end of the year...

silver price news todaySilver prices are currently trading at $17.51 per ounce. If they can maintain that price level until the closing bell, they'll settle at the highest level since April 25, when silver closed at $17.59. The price of silver will also cap off a weekly gain of 1.1%.

Today's rally comes on the heels of a lackluster U.S. jobs report this morning, which pushed the U.S. dollar down and boosted silver. The U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.5% on the day, while today's silver gains pushed the metal closer to Money Morning Resource Specialist Peter Krauth's bullish 2017 target.

Before I talk more about Krauth's bullish silver price forecast, here are the details from the bombshell jobs report today...

This Weak Jobs Data Is the Big Silver Price News Today

Early this morning, the U.S. Labor Department released its May jobs report, which came in much weaker than economists anticipated.

According to the report, employers added 138,000 new jobs last month, which was 25.4% below the expected 185,000. That made investors who were nervous about the report's economic implications and skittish toward the U.S. dollar. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) - which measures the dollar against several notable currencies like the euro and pound - is down 0.5%.

Weakness in the dollar often pushes dollar-denominated commodities like silver higher. When the dollar drops, silver becomes cheaper to foreign currency users. This incentivizes them to buy silver at a discount, which increases demand and sends silver prices higher.

Trending: The 4 Best Silver Investments to Make in 2017

Despite the weaker-than-expected jobs growth, the economy still appears strong, with the unemployment rate at a 16-year low of 4.3%. This has boosted the odds of an interest rate hike at the June FOMC meeting to a near-certain 93.5%. Rate hikes are commonly thought to be bearish for silver since they boost the value of the dollar, thus making silver more expensive to other currency users and reducing demand.

However, we've just uncovered proof showing how high interest rate environments don't lower silver prices. In fact, they can actually be bullish for the silver market over the long term. This reinforces Krauth's bold silver price forecast that shows the metal could see double-digit returns this year.

Here's our high price target for 2017...

CHART: High Interest Rates Won't Affect Silver's Bull Run in 2017

[mmpazkzone name="in-story" network="9794" site="307044" id="137008" type="4"]

If you look at the period from 1970 to 1980, you can see that both interest rates and silver prices climbed in tandem with each other...

silver news

For most of the 1970s, the benchmark U.S. interest rate - or the federal funds rate - was far above 5%. Even more insane was when rates reached above 15% by 1979. That's much higher than the expected 1% to 1.25% range after the June FOMC meeting.

Despite those unthinkable interest rate levels, silver gradually climbed higher throughout the decade. Prices went from about $1.91 in January 1970 to about $35 in January 1980.

Clearly, the 1970s discredit the notion that silver can't rally alongside interest rates.

And we may have already entered a similar environment with the first rate hike in a decade on Dec. 16, 2015. Since then, the Fed has raised the fed funds rate three times. Meanwhile, the price of silver is up 22.9% from $14.25 on Dec. 16, 2015, to $17.51 today.

That indicates the silver price is set up for a long-term rally in 2017 and beyond, no matter how many times the Fed raises rates. Additionally, any stock market volatility in response to these rate hikes could also help lift silver prices higher.

All of this supports Krauth's prediction that silver will rise 25.6% from the current $17.51 price to $22 by the end of 2017.

A generous 25.6% return in just over six months makes silver a must-have investment for your portfolio.

Editor's Note: A door has opened for an ultra-rare but powerful anomaly in the stock market... It involves a precious metal, one that's considered exceedingly more rare than gold. Get all the details.

Follow Money Morning on Facebook and Twitter.