NEW YORK, Jan 30, 2026, 05:58 (EST)
- Gold slid more than 7% and dipped below $5,000 an ounce in early trade
- Silver fell more than 14% to below $100 as the dollar firmed
- Markets are bracing for President Trump’s expected Fed chair announcement
Gold and silver sank on Friday, snapping a month-long surge, as traders positioned for President Donald Trump’s expected announcement on who will lead the U.S. Federal Reserve next.
The move matters because the rally in precious metals has been tied to a weak dollar and bets that U.S. policy would stay loose. With Kevin Warsh widely seen as the front-runner, the U.S. currency and Treasury yields rose, undercutting bullion’s appeal. The “dollar debasement” trade — buying gold as a hedge against the currency losing value — went into reverse. (MarketWatch)
Trump told reporters on Thursday night he would announce his pick on Friday morning after meeting Warsh at the White House, according to a source familiar with the matter. The nominee must be confirmed by the Senate, and the choice lands amid heightened scrutiny of how independent the Fed can remain from political pressure. (Reuters)
Spot gold was down 7.5% at $4,992.05 an ounce by 0947 GMT, after hitting a record $5,594.82 on Thursday. It was still up more than 15% for January, heading for its strongest month since 1999. “After the strong rally in recent weeks a consolidation is healthy,” said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. (Reuters)
Silver was off 14.1% at $99.77 an ounce after touching a record $121.64 a day earlier, and was still up 42% for the month. Independent analyst Ross Norman said speculative excess was being “blown off,” even as he kept a bullish view on where gold could trade later this year.
The selloff spread through the complex. Platinum fell about 16% and palladium about 13%, while copper eased after a sharp run that left it at multi-decade highs earlier this week.
In London, the slide in precious metals hit mining shares even as banks caught a bid, according to Bloomberg’s UK markets blog. Sterling also retreated. (Bloomberg)
Some economists cautioned against reading the market reaction as a settled verdict on future Fed policy. Stephen Brown, deputy chief North America economist at Capital Economics, called Warsh “a relatively safe choice,” but flagged the risk that plans to shrink the Fed’s balance sheet could put upward pressure on longer-dated yields. (The Guardian)
Still, the downside case is clear enough. Trump has shifted his timetable before, and any drawn-out confirmation fight could keep markets jumpy. A flare-up in geopolitical risk, or another leg down in the dollar, could pull haven demand back toward gold just as fast as it left.
Broader markets looked uneasy. U.S. stock futures fell and Asian shares slipped, while oil edged lower from the previous session’s jump, according to AP. (AP News)
Signs of overheating have also drawn attention in Asia. The Shanghai Futures Exchange suspended 10 trading groups and urged more “rational” trading in a bid to cool speculative churn, the Financial Times reported. (Financial Times)
For now, bullion traders are stuck in the same place as everyone else: waiting for Trump’s announcement. A firmer dollar tends to hit dollar-priced commodities by making them costlier for buyers using other currencies, and Friday’s price action showed how quickly that math can bite.
