



What to know about the wild swings in gold and silver
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The record-breaking rally in metals prices that has captivated investors from Wall Street to Main Street hit the wall on Friday, when silver and gold prices suffered their largest daily losses in more than four decades. Silver futures, which surged past a 45-year-old record high in October and more than doubled from there, crashed 31% on Friday.
Gold futures, which traded above $5,000 a troy ounce for the first time ever a week ago, dropped 11%. Platinum and palladium prices each lost more than 15%. Even copper—used in electronics and plumbing rather than by investors as a store of value—was caught in the metals selloff, with futures shedding 4.5%.
Here’s what to know about the rout in metals prices: The rally began to sputter late Thursday around the time that news outlets started reporting that President Trump was planning to nominate Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor, as the next chairman of the central bank. Investors view Warsh as an inflation hawk whose appointment suggests a stronger dollar and more stable monetary policy. The dollar strengthened against other currencies on its way to its best day since May.
By midday in New York, metals prices were in free fall. The Warsh news triggered the selling, but the magnitude of the declines was the result of the frenzied buying leading up to his nomination that lifted prices well beyond what any market fundamentals would suggest, analysts say. The retreat continued on Monday, with all five of those metals declining less than 2% in choppy trading.
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