Stocks were taking a little respite and a bounce higher after their recent declines.

The Dollar moved higher.

Gold and silver extended their decline.

VIX declined.

There is quite a chunk of gold sitting in the Comex warehouses in Hong Kong. 

This often presages a smack down in the Western futures price, and an outflow of physical in Asia, when they can manage it. Like a Non-Farm Payrolls report.

Let's see what happens. Sometimes they like to flip the trade, when too many hangers on are leaning heavily on a directional move. Like the last Comex option expiration in the metals.

Non-Farm Payrolls on Friday.

People can be very gullible about what causes moves in the equity markets.

Lately, the shiny thing has been the perception of interest rates, moving up or pivoting towards cuts.

If you take these rationalizations at face value for the big daily moves in stocks, you might assume that the Wall Street crowd have the situational awareness and conviction of goldfish.

The small investor is not much of a factor in intraday pricing moves anymore. They are mostly in cash or riding some favorite index fund. The high-frequency crowd preys on everyone, especially big fat managed funds.

Barring the big exogenous events, there is a relatively small crew on the Street that sets the tone, and the rest follow the momentum their declare.

Have a pleasant evening.

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