Stock Market Today, Jan. 30: President Trump makes market-moving announcement about the future of Federal Reserve
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Happy Friday. This is TheStreet’s Stock Market Today for Jan. 30, 2026. You can follow the latest updates on the market here in our daily live blog.
Update: 4:00 p.m. ET
Closing Bell
Let's close it up for the week. The U.S. markets are now shut, finishing on slightly better footing than where we were at midday. In total, about two-thirds of U.S. equities declined, while one-third advanced.
Riskier growth-focused indexes like the small-cap Russell 2000 (-1.55%) and tech-centric Nasdaq (-0.94%) saw the steepest declines, while the S&P 500(-0.43%) and Dow (-0.36%) capped off the month with moderating declines.
As mentioned earlier, that means that the Dow finished for its third consecutive week of declines; its worst run since Dec. 2024. The Russell 2000 is on its second straight week of declines.
The cause? A piping hot Producer Price Index report, which saw Core PPI and PPI rise at a much faster clip than expected. Pair that with a hawkish Fed Chair nominee by the President of the United States, which we delve into in our A.M. Update.
As a subtext to the moves in stocks, commodities saw some really aggressive moves, with continuous gold (-8.33% to $4,909) and silver (-25.5% to $85.25), some of the most aggressive moves we've seen in the metals market in recent years.
Update: 2:00 p.m. ET
Midday Update
We're in the waning hours of the trading week. Things haven't been going too well for U.S. stocks, which have been facing some sharp declines, with 68.4% (3,794) issues declining today against just 28.9% (1,601) advancing.
In fact, just as recently as 20 minutes ago, the Russell 2000 was off closer to two percent; the other main benchmarks were also saddling some big losses. Thankfully, things have been looking up in the last few minutes. The S&P 500 (-0.35%) and Dow (-0.46%) are off by less than half a percentage point now, while the Nasdaq (-0.69%) and Russell 2000 (-1.07%) are off closer to one percent.
The leading source of angst today seems to be related to President Donald Trump's new Fed chair nominee (scroll down for more on that.) This morning's Producer Price Index data also stirred the pot, with PPI and Core PPI rising 0.5% and 0.7% in the month of December, much warmer than expected.
As of this moment, the Dow is on track for its third consecutive week of declines; its worst run since Dec. 2024. For the Russell, it's on track to be the second week in a row. (Unless, of course, they can muster a comeback similar to yesterday's trade.)
Midday Movers
That said, let's take a look at the top and bottom 20 stocks on the markets on our Midday Movers list; the defining trades of the day.
Winners
Losers
Update: 10:00 a.m. ET
Opening Bell
The U.S. market is now opened for the day.
This morning, President Donald Trump announced his new Fed Chair pick: Kevin Warsh, who served as a Fed Governor from 2006 to 2011, playing a unique role in the central bank during the 2008 financial crisis. In the more than decade since Warsh left his post at the central bank, he has served on the board of United Postal Service, become a lecturer at Stanford, and taken up a few other posts.
During the '08 crisis, Warsh had been an advocate for higher interest rates, an interesting position considering the crisis. He's also been an advocate for shrinking the Fed's $7 trillion balance sheet and letting asset prices fall, a trade which is likely to garner controversy. One way that Warsh, despite his held beliefs, might be able to reason towards the lower interest rates that President Donald Trump wants is through productivity, which has been experiencing a structural, years-long boom.
He's also critical of the central bank. Many would call him "hawkish", which will be interesting to square with the President's desire to win a more sympathetic, dovish Fed. To that end, Warsh is likely to be squarely focused on the central bank's own matters than factors beyond its dual mandate.
Outside of that purview, the 55-year-old is unlikely to err much into politics or theatrics. However, we'll have to wait to see how his confirmation to the Fed really changes things --- and to that end, he will first need the approval of both Democrats and Republicans, which might not happen until an investigation brought by the President against the incumbent Fed Chair has wrapped.
In reaction to this morning's big announcement, U.S. benchmarks briefly dipped to session lows; the Nasdaq (-0.41%), Russell 2000 (-0.37%), Dow (-0.35%), and S&P 500 (-0.31%) are all lower. The Russell's malaise appears to be continuing into the 10 a.m. hour, while the other three indexes appear to be bouncing.
The 10YTreasury is 2 basis points higher at 4.247%, another sign of reaction from the fixed income crowd. The 20Y and 30Y are 2.3 bips and 2.6 bips higher at 4.832% and 4.88%.
Also notable, after technical difficulties delayed the start of trading at the London Metal Exchange, continuous futures in high-flying metals are lower today. Gold (-5.29% to $5,071.60) and Silver (-13.51% to $98.97) are seeing some pretty steep declines. On the flip side, energy commodities like Natural gas (+5.05% to $4.166%) and Brent crude oil(+0.23% to $69.75) are seeing a nice bump.
Heatmap: S&P 500
That said, here's a glimpse of the S&P 500, the best-situated index this morning among major U.S. benchmarks. Telecom giants are the brightest green pocket this morning after Verizon's earnings (more below), while credit services are lower after American Express reported.
Earnings Today: Exxon Mobil, Chevron, American Express
This morning saw a wide array of earnings, including oil firms Exxon Mobil and Chevron, payment processor American Express, and others. Among the bigger moves in the largest reports of the day are Verizon (+6.91%) and IES Holdings (-14.43%). Here's the list of A.M. reports for today:
After the market close, FinViz says that there will be two reports at size, both foreign: Japan's Sumitomo and Nomura will report, both financials.
Economic Events: Fed Chair Pick, Producer Price Index, Chicago PMI
Aside from President Donald Trump announcing his new pick for Fed Chair, there were also a number of economic reports released this morning, including the Producer Price Index. Notably, the PPI and Core PPI reports accelerated at rates much greater than expected by analysts. Here's the shortlist:
