Silver heads for biggest drop in 46 years, with ‘every man and his dog rushing for the exit’

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• GC00

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Silver’s plunge on Friday put the the metal on track for its worst daily drop since 1980, in a move that one strategist referred to as “every man and his dog rushing for the exit.”

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair fueled a recovery in the U.S. dollar 

DXY

+0.66%

, with some analysts saying Warsh would be less supportive of lower interest rates than other potential candidates for the role. That prompted selling among precious-metals traders, but that may just be a bump in the road for silver’s rally.

To some, Friday’s move came as no surprise. “For some time now, it’s been clear that conditions in the metals market were incredibly frothy, while signs emerged earlier this week that things were becoming downright disorderly,” said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.