[MARKET ANALYSIS] Metals slip (XAU -5.7%, XAG -12.3%) as Warsh emerges as frontrunner for Fed Chair

• Precious metals slide as European trade continues, with spot XAU currently trading at USD 5037/oz, nearly USD 500/oz lower from the ATH made in Thursday's session. Spot silver has slipped even further and has wiped out the entirety of this week's gains. This comes following the recent strength in the greenback as Kevin Warsh emerges as the frontrunner for the Fed Chair role, with markets suggesting that he is more hawkish than other candidates such as Rick Rieder. President Trump is set to announce the pick later today.
• Alongside precious metals, base metals have been hit by the stronger dollar, with 3M LME Copper briefly tagging USD 13.1k/t before slightly paring back losses but remaining below USD 13.5k/t. For context, the red metal was trading at USD 14.53k/t just 18 hours ago.
• The LME failed to get underway at 01:00GMT, delaying the opening for roughly an hour due to technical issues. Thursday was a highly volatile day of trading with 3M LME Copper higher by as much as 12% before reversing the majority of its gains before markets closed at 18:00GMT. For traders wanting to exit positions at the open, this would have complicated issues, especially if the outage lasted for longer than an hour. However, LME trade continues as normal.

Kevin Warsh's emergence as a frontrunner for the Fed Chair suggests a hawkish tilt that is pressuring precious metals as the dollar strengthens. With expectations of tighter monetary policy, the implications for gold and silver prices are significant; this shift may challenge the recent uptrend in metals, indicating that traders should brace for potential volatility as the Fed’s direction becomes clearer.