NEW YORK, Aug. 25 -- The last time Kevin Warsh moved the gold market, he had not yet started the job. His nomination alone was enough to knock as much as ten percent off bullion in a single Monday session and take silver down sixteen, after a Friday that produced the largest intraday fall on record for the white metal. Traders read the appointment of an inflation hawk exactly as the textbook says they should, and they sold.

Six months on, three days before Warsh stands up at Jackson Hole to give his first keynote as chairman, gold is at a fifteen-week high.

Spot settled Monday around $4,641.80 an ounce, up close to nine tenths of a percent, with an intraday peak just under $4,660. COMEX futures did better, closing at $4,701.70 and clear...