NEW YORK, Jan 30, 2026, 13:36 EST — Regular session
- Spot gold slid 8.9% to $4,915/oz; on track for its biggest daily drop since 1983
- Silver fell nearly 22% as the dollar firmed after Trump named Kevin Warsh as his choice for Fed chair
- Traders now focus on the Fed handover, U.S. jobs data on Feb. 6 and CPI on Feb. 11
Gold prices tumbled on Friday and were poised for their biggest one-day fall since 1983, as investors took profits after U.S. President Donald Trump named former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh as his choice to run the central bank. Spot gold was down 8.9% at $4,915.17 an ounce by 12:30 p.m. ET, while U.S. gold futures slid 7.7% to $4,940.70; silver sank 21.92% to $90.66. Standard Chartered’s Suki Cooper said “expectations for real yields” — inflation-adjusted bond returns — and the dollar helped trigger the profit-taking, while the World Gold Council’s Joe Cavatoni said gold is increasingly viewed as “a strategic portfolio allocation.” Reuters
The size of the move matters because it hits a market that had been leaning hard in one direction. Gold had just notched a fresh record above $5,500, and silver’s run had been even wilder.
This time the dollar did not cooperate. The U.S. currency rebounded as Warsh was picked to succeed Jerome Powell when his leadership term ends in May, and traders trimmed bets on aggressive U.S. rate cuts. “I would say it is dollar positive,” said Kirstine Kundby-Nielsen, an analyst at Danske Bank, adding it calmed nerves about a more politicised or sharply dovish Fed. Fed funds futures — contracts that track where traders think policy rates are headed — were pricing in 52 basis points of cuts this year, with the first reduction likely in June. Reuters
The selloff comes a day after gold touched an all-time high of $5,594.82 and then buckled, a reminder that the market has been trading in big blocks rather than neat steps.
Thursday’s slide had looked like routine profit-taking. “We are seeing a dramatic sell-off after precious metals made new recent all-time highs,” said David Meger, director of metals trading at High Ridge Futures. Marex strategist Guy Wolf said speculative flows had left some of the smaller metals markets “totally detached” from where physical demand is robust, even as UBS raised its gold forecast and Reuters reported crypto firm Tether plans to allocate 10%-15% of its portfolio to physical gold. Reuters
Just two sessions ago, momentum was still driving the tape. “The rally in the precious metals has kind of taken on a life of its own,” said Peter Grant, vice president and senior metals strategist at Zaner Metals, as gold closed in on $5,400. Reuters
Physical markets have stayed busy even as prices whipped around. Reuters reported India premiums hit decade highs and China demand held up on jewellery and investment interest, a contrast with the sharp turn in futures-led trading.
Gold’s slide hit gold-linked equities too. SPDR Gold Shares, a gold-backed ETF that trades like a stock, was down 12.14% at $435.80 in midday trade. Mining shares also took a hit, with Newmont and Barrick down about 10%, the Financial Times reported.
The spillover showed up quickly in Canada, where the Toronto market fell more than 2% as materials and mining stocks sank alongside bullion.
U.S. inflation signals added to the pressure. Producer prices rose 0.5% in December, the biggest gain in five months, as some firms appeared to pass through tariff-linked costs, Reuters reported — a reminder that the Fed may not be in a rush to ease.
But the market is trading politics as much as inflation right now, and that can cut both ways. A smoother confirmation process and softer data could steady bullion, while a firmer dollar and higher yields could keep forcing fast money out.
Warsh’s path to the chair is not the only moving part. Reuters reported he will face intense scrutiny, with Powell’s chair term ending in May and at least one key senator threatening to block Fed nominees until a Justice Department investigation is resolved.
Next up are the U.S. jobs report on Feb. 6 and the consumer price index on Feb. 11 — two releases that can quickly shift expectations for rate cuts and, by extension, the floor under real yields that gold traders watch.
