By Connor Hart

Shares of mining companies fell Friday, as precious metals retreated from their highs and after President Trump nominated Kevin Warsh to helm the Federal Reserve.

In premarket trading, Newmont's stock fell 5.4%, to $120.13, while Barrick Mining's stock declined 6.3%, to $48.75. Shares of Hecla Mining tumbled 9%, to $23.96, after the company earlier this week guided for lower gold and silver production this year. And shares of Pan American Silver were down 7.5%, to $58.54.

Metal prices, which scaled to record highs earlier this week, began to decline Thursday and accelerated into Friday morning, as Trump said he would nominate Warsh to be the next Fed chairman.

"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. On top of everything else, he is 'central casting,' and he will never let you down," Trump said in a post on his social-media account.

The U.S. Dollar Index and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield both climbed higher following Warsh's nomination.

"The Warsh pick should help stabilize the dollar some and reduce (though not eliminate) the asymmetric risk of deep extended dollar weakness by challenging debasement trades--which is also why gold and silver are sharply lower," Evercore ISI's Krishna Guha said in a research note.

Guha added that Warsh has a hawkish reputation and is viewed as independent, meaning "he is better placed to bring the FOMC along with him to deliver at least two and plausibly three cuts this year than some rivals."

Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2026 08:22 ET (13:22 GMT)

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