Caroline Hepker

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I'm Caroline Hepker.

And I'm Caroline Hepker.

Now, the price of silver has plunged by as much as 17% today after a two-day recovery.

Silver prices hit an all-time high in late January of more than $120 an ounce.

Since then, silver has lost more than a third of its value and is trading at around $79.

The precious metal rally last month was driven by speculative leveraged bets, geopolitical upheaval and also concerns over Fed independence.

Shell has announced results that fell short of expectations as slightly higher production was overshadowed by lower crude prices.

Europe's largest oil company reported adjusted fourth quarter net income of $3.26 billion.

That's down 11% from a year earlier and lower than the average analyst's estimates of $3.51 billion.

Shell maintained its quarterly share buyback at $3.5 billion.

Shares in Shell trading in London down 1.6% at the market open.

Now, the Bank of England is widely expected to leave interest rates on hold today as it waits for more evidence that inflation is under control.

This as we get more on that preview from Bloomberg's Ewan Potts.

And those are our top stories for you this morning.

Looking at the markets, European stocks are down a tenth of one percent.

FTSE 100 shares also down by four tenths of one percent.

Now, interesting that we are seeing here in the UK longer dated gilt yields rising about four basis points.

Also, the twos, tens yield curve steepening the most since 2018.

Is that political risk?