But the brunt of the punishment is back on the Dow, which was down another 2%.  At the lows today, that takes us back to flat on the year for the DJIA … up 1% for the S&P 500.  And the Nasdaq, at the lows today, was up just 4.8% on the year.

As they say, stocks go up in an escalator and down in an elevator.

Interestingly, in this slippery slide for stocks, money has NOT been piling into bonds.  This is the flight to safety trade we’ve seen throughout the post-financial crisis era.  It doesn’t seem to be happening this time.  The 10-year yield remains in sniffing distance of 3.25% (closing today at 3.14%).

So, where is the money going?  Gold.

Gold is on the move — the top performer in global markets today.  And it looks like it’s just getting started.  As I said last week, “the set up for a bounce in gold here looks ripe. The level to watch will be 1,214.”

You can see in the chart, the 1214 level gave way today, and we had a break of the downtrend of the past six months.

Now, when we discussed gold last week, we were talking about the potential for China to perhaps try a few shenanigans over the next month, in order to influence the outcome of the November elections.

Here’s an excerpt from that October 3rd note:  “China remains the holdout on making a deal with Trump on trade. And it looks likely that they are holding out to see what the November elections look like.

Will Trump retain a Republican led Congress? I suspect we may see China do what it can to influence that outcome. As we know, the Republicans will be promoting the economy as we get closer to voting day.

What can China do to rock that boat?

They can sell Treasuries, in an attempt to ignite a sharper climb in rates. And a fast move in rates (at these levels) has a way of shaking confidence in equity markets–which has a way of shaking confidence in the economy.“

I suspect we may be seeing precisely this above scenario play out.