Daily News Nuggets | Today’s top stories for gold and silver investors January 12th, 2026 A Rare Challenge to Fed Independence Shakes Markets In an unusually direct escalation, the Justice Department under President Trump has served subpoenas on the Federal Reserve and threatened criminal charges tied to Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony — a move widely viewed as a politicized use of prosecutorial power against an independent central bank. Fed leadership pushed back immediately, warning that the action undermines the Fed’s independence. Markets reacted just as fast. Stocks wavered, the dollar softened, and safe-haven assets like gold moved higher as investors priced in rising institutional risk. The concern goes