Silver Crashes Hard over News of No Big Regime Change at the Fed

The amenable Fed change by President Trump lightened concerns that have been driving Fed money into silver and gold money as safe havens.

Jan 30, 2026

Just a quick extra on Friday when I don’t usually write a weekday editorial with some headlines, since I had to skip an editorial earlier this week:

I’m sure many are concerned about the huge silver and gold crash today. It appears to be entirely related to Trump picking his replacement for Jerome Powell as head of the Fed. It is actually a surprisingly benign pick from the Fedhead options that Trump was considering. Warsh was a major money printer back during the recovery days of the financial crash in at the end of the Bush days; but he later he criticized the Fed for being too loose with monetary policy for too long. So, his thinking (for a Fedhead) seems flexible.

As a former Fed governor, he’s not likely to shake things up a lot, and so those who had been fleeing to gold and silver backed off and banked some of their huge profits. That MAY be all this is, profit taking at an opportune moment of relief in the news for those with more faith in the Fed than I. The dollar’s death from tariffs continues to be a building fact, regardless, so I will be surprised if gold and silver do not stage a recovery in a few months and maybe a bounce in a few days if they overreacted today, which they probably did.

In essence, some of great worry that was driving people was over the way Trump kept saying he was going change things at the Fed to put it more directly under his political control (a sure banana-republic move if it were to ever happen). Trump surprised people by not making any change that would immediately upset the status quo. So, the only change in precious metals should have been whatever portion of gold and silver’s recent rise as safe haven assets was due to concern about the Fed. I doubt 30% of silver’s hoarding was due to concern about the Fed, so most of that was probably just seizing the moment to seize profits. I’ve read a few gold bucks and silver fish who were feeling anxious to cash in on profits. Many more are not seeking profits; they are seeking stabilization of their funds when the dollar collapses even worse than it already is doing. They’ll keep holding their PMs.

Still, I am not a financial advisor, and you should do all your own head work to see what is best for you. If I’m right, silver will probably stabilize quickly and go back up to any degree that it may have overcorrected over relief from Fed political manipulation concerns. There are several articles below about today’s silver slide if you haven’t come across them already. If I find more on this of merit over the weekend, it may become my weekend Deeper Diver for paying subscribers.

Otherwise, note that inflation took a large leap upward in producer prices, and that is the action that is just upstream from consumer prices, so a strong indication of things to come. Inflation remains high AND GROWING, so I doubt the Fed will be doing more rate cuts in the near future.

Also of note for the weekend is a solitary report of an unnamed military source warning an unnamed Middle East nation that Trump may be attacking Iran this weekend to take out some of the top of the regime. It is not fully supported by other sources, so I’m just keeping an eye on it.