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Gold, Silver Prices Plunge After Trump Picks Kevin Warsh as Next Fed Chair

BY MT Newswires | ECONOMIC | 02:11 PM EST

02:11 PM EST, 01/30/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Gold and silver prices sank Friday after US President Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair in May.

Gold futures slumped 11% to $4,763.71 per troy ounce, while silver slid 31% to $78.60.

Earlier this week, gold futures surged past $5,600, while the white metal crossed $121 as investors turned to safe-haven assets amid mounting geopolitical uncertainty and concerns about Fed independence.

Trump has regularly criticized Powell for not cutting interest rates more aggressively. The Fed held interest rates steady earlier in the week after delivering three back-to-back cuts last year amid concerns about the labor market.

Warsh served as a governor on the central bank's board from 2006 to 2011. Before joining the Fed, he was part of the George W. Bush White House and had worked at Morgan Stanley (MS).

"Warsh is widely viewed as more hawkish than several other names that have circulated, having previously resigned from the Fed in disagreement over unconventional monetary policy tools such as quantitative easing," Saxo Bank Head of Commodity Strategy Ole Hansen said in a Friday report.

Current Fed Governor Christopher Waller and BlackRock's (BLK) Rick Rieder were among those interviewed for the top Fed role. "Hawks" are policymakers that focus on controlling inflation by raising interest rates.

The yellow metal has an inverse relationship with interest rates.

But not every body on Wall Street sees Warsh as a hawk.

"He has shifted his public stance from a long-standing 'inflation hawk' to an advocate for lower interest rates and structural reform at the Fed," Macquarie said in report Friday. "Anyone who thinks that Trump has strayed from his own belief system by hiring a supposed institutional guy in the form of Kevin Warsh to run the Fed is gravely mistaken."

MT Newswires does not provide investment advice. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

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