The silver price in 2017 had climbed almost nonstop until last week. After prices bottomed in late December, the precious metal gained over 8% between Dec. 23 and Jan. 20.

But then, as if needing to digest those relentless gains, the price of silver has begun to pull back in the past week as it entered consolidation.

Last week, I told you not to expect that pace of silver price gains to continue unabated. Sure enough, that’s what we saw recently.

There are some technical drivers that should support silver prices in the near and longer term.And we’ll explore those.

But first, here’s why silver prices fell last week…

Why the price of silver started to fall last week

Silver started out on Monday, Jan. 23, on a strong note. Prices opened at $17.13 and proceeded to work their way higher throughout the day. They closed 0.4% higher at $17.20 per ounce.

The silver price losses began on Tuesday when it opened lower at $17.08. Although it shot up to $17.21 at 10:00 a.m., it immediately reversed. It worked its way 0.9% lower to close out at $17.05.

The price of silver fell below $17 on Wednesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s jump above the 20,000 mark affected global markets. Although it opened at $16.89, sellers overwhelmed buyers as the Dow sucked away all the attention. Needless to say, precious metals lost some of their safe-haven allure. Silver prices made a brave effort, climbing higher, but still settled 0.4% lower at $16.98.

On Thursday, Jan. 26, the silver saw more weakness. Silver opened lower at $16.82 and kept falling during the session. It closed the day 1.4% lower at $16.74.

Then on Friday, silver opened lower yet again at $16.68 but bounced higher with gold prices as the dollar reversed. By late morning, the price of silver was up to $17.15. It closed the day 1.7% higher at $17.14. However, it saw a weekly loss of 0.6%.

But last week’s pullback is just a temporary reaction to the record-high stock market. I’m still bullish on the silver price in 2017.