Trump Nominates Warsh for Next Fed Chair; Stock Futures Point Lower at End of Winning Month; Gold, Silver Futures Sink

Stock futures remained lower Friday but came off sharper declines after President Donald Trump picked Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair. Meanwhile, precious metals sold off as traders locked in gains.  

Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.6%, 0.5%, and 0.4%, respectively, after Trump is selected former Fed Governor Warsh to lead the central bank.

“I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

Major stock indexes finished mostly lower yesterday, pulled down by shares of Microsoft and software companies, as investors digested a flurry of corporate earnings reports. Still, the blue-chip Dow, benchmark S&P 500, and tech-heavy Nasdaq entered the day up a respective 2%, 1.8%, and 0.8% for January, with the Dow on pace for its ninth straight month of gains. For the week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up 0.8% through Thursday, while the Dow was about 0.1% lower.

Traders also will be paying attention to the delayed Producer Price Index report for December, set to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Economists are expecting both PPI and “core” PPI to have risen 0.3% month-over-month, up from 0.2% in November.

Safe-haven gold and silver futures retreated Friday as traders locked in gains after the precious metals soared to their latest record highs yesterday. Gold prices fell 4% in recent trading to about $5,150 an ounce after hitting above $5,625 Thursday, while silver futures plummeted about 10% to $102 an ounce after reaching above $121.75 yesterday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury—which impacts interest rates on a variety of consumer loans including mortgages—was trading around 4.26%, up from Thursday’s close of 4.24%.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of global currencies, was up 0.3% at 96.62 but near its lowest level in more than four years. Bitcoin was trading at around $82,700, down from its overnight high of about $84,600.

West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, slipped 1% to around $64.70 a barrel. 

Apple (AAPL) shares edged 0.7% lower after initially rising following its earnings report yesterday afternoon.

In other post-earnings moves, shares of Sandisk (SNDK) soared 19%, Deckers Outdoor (DECK) surged 14%, Verizon (VZ) rose 2%, KLA (KLAC) dropped 8%, Exxon Mobil (XOM) declined 2.5%, Visa (V) fell 2%, and Chevron (CVX) slipped 0.3%. American Express (AXP) also was set to report results before the bell.

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) were little changed after sinking 10% yesterday. Those of Meta Platforms (META) slipped about 1.5% before the bell after soaring 10% Thursday.