Gold and silver prices cratered Friday after President Trump named Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve, following months of gains driven in no small part by fears over the central bank's independence.
The big picture: The selloff follows a year when the precious metals soared as if they were meme stocks or the hot new tech darling. Today's plunge was seen by many market analysts as an inevitable move for an asset class primed to retreat, with the Fed news merely a catalyst.
State of play: Gold futures tumbled 9% Friday afternoon, to $4,901 per ounce. It saw the biggest daily decline since the early 1980s, per Bloomberg.
- Silver plunged 27%, to $83.35 an ounce, the steepest one-day decline since 1980, per MarketWatch.
What they're saying: "Too far, too fast" is a common theme coming from analysts today.
- "The whole 'stairs up, elevator down' adage doesn't feel quite right for the metals complex right now. In fact, it was more a case of 'elevator up, elevator down,'" Michael Brown, a strategist at Pepperstone, wrote in a note.
- "Silver is just GameStop in 2026," Michael Antonelli, market strategist at Baird, wrote on X on Tuesday.
Between the lines: High levels of leverage and significant volatility created a powder keg for a selloff, Brown noted.
- "Every man and his dog rushing for the exit at the same time, forcing prices lower, which in turn begets further forced selling, serving as a useful reminder that momentum works both ways!"
Catch up quick: Economists feared Trump would choose a loyalist to lead the world's most important central bank in an effort to get lower interest rates, which is one reason investors piled into safe havens like silver and gold.
- Tapping Warsh, a former Fed official who is seen as a credible policymaker among Republicans and corporate executives, has calmed those concerns — at least somewhat, Axios Macro co-author Courtenay Brown notes.
Reality check: Even with today's selloff, gold prices are still more than 14% higher than where they started the year.
- Silver, meanwhile, is up 22% for the year.
- So even after today's carnage in the market, gold and silver continue to outpace the S&P 500, Nvidia and copper —arguably a more important metal in this AI age— so far this year.
