The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that a key driver of Canada's outperforming stock market over the past year -- gold and silver -- slammed into reverse on Friday, dragging the benchmark down nearly 1,100 points in the biggest sell-off since last year's Liberation Day. The Globe's David Berman writes that the turbulence followed the announcement that U.S. President Donald Trump picked former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh as the next chairman, which eased concerns about inflation and central bank independence. That may be good news for the U.S. economy, but not so good for precious metals that had soared to record highs earlier this month as investors sought popular havens from unpredictable U.S. policies. Now, these gains are unwinding in a big way. The price of gold fell as low as $4,700 an ounce, down more than $650, at its lowest point during the day. The S&P/TSX Composite Index, which has a large exposure to global precious metals producers, closed at 31,923.52, down 1,092.61 points or 3.3 per cent. Big gold producers were the hardest hit, and the pain extended to other commodity producers. Uranium player Cameco fell 6.6 per cent and copper producer Lundin Mining fell 7.6 per cent.