Nasdaq futures exhibited a decline on Friday, although they recovered from more significant losses following President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair. In the interim, precious metals experienced a decline as traders opted to secure their profits. Futures for the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average experienced declines of 0.5%, 0.4%, and 0.4%, respectively, following the selection of 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 concluded the day predominantly in the red, influenced by declines in Microsoft and other software firms, as investors processed a wave of corporate earnings announcements. Nevertheless, the blue-chip Dow, the benchmark S&P 500, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq commenced the day with respective increases of 2%, 1.8%, and 0.8% for January, positioning the Dow for its ninth consecutive month of gains. For the week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq experienced an increase of 0.8% through Thursday, whereas the Dow saw a decline of approximately 0.1%.

Market participants will be closely monitoring the postponed Producer Price Index report for December, scheduled for release at 8:30 am. Analysts anticipate that both PPI and “core” PPI will have increased by 0.3% month-over-month, a rise from the 0.2% recorded in November. Gold and silver futures, typically regarded as safe havens, experienced a decline on Friday as traders opted to secure profits following the recent surge that brought these precious metals to new record highs the previous day. Gold prices experienced a decline of 4% in recent trading, settling at approximately $5,150 per ounce, following a peak above $5,625 on Thursday. Concurrently, silver futures saw a significant drop of about 10%, now priced at $103 per ounce after surpassing $121.75 the previous day.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences interest rates across various consumer loans such as mortgages, was observed at approximately 4.25%, an increase from Thursday’s closing figure of 4.24%. The U.S. dollar index, which monitors the value of the greenback relative to a selection of global currencies, experienced an increase of 0.1% to reach 96.38, approaching its lowest point in over four years. Bitcoin was trading at approximately 82,600, a decline from its overnight peak of roughly 84,600. West Texas Intermediate crude futures, the U.S. benchmark, declined by 0.8%, settling at approximately $64.90 per barrel. Apple shares edged 0.7% lower after initially rising following its earnings report yesterday afternoon.

In other post-earnings movements, shares of Sandisk soared 24%, Deckers Outdoor surged 12%, Verizon rose 2.5%, KLA dropped 8%, American Express fell 3%, Exxon Mobil declined 2%, Visa fell 1%, and Chevron was little changed. Shares of Microsoft edged higher after sinking 10% yesterday. Shares of Meta Platforms slipped about 1.2% before the bell after soaring 10% Thursday.