I thought the build-up blew apart in March 2009, AKA the "debt crisis"? That crisis, IMO, was an institutional systemic/counter-party risk debacle, it had huge implications... This stuff here... well, my belief is that Mom and Pop decided to give their "distribution notice" to FOF's, HF's, Mutual Funds, and the like. Why? Because some bullshit ratings agency tossed a snowball on top of a hill and our 24 hour news cycle gave said snowball a solid kick. In reality, I don't care what the causes are, and I'll always trade what I see, but, this shit is overblown. That said, I don't think all the capitulation is over just yet. Maybe Benny B. will do something interesting, maybe not....
On the charts (monthly), we have been in trouble since 2007...got a strong bear market rally until last week.
I disagree. The ratings agency stuff is sort of a convenient excuse for what has been building in the pipeline for many months. If this were simply "ma and pa" bailing out of their mutual funds, Gold would not have gone parabolic while equities were sold en masse. And this counter-party issue could very well still be alive and well as Europe is in worse shape now than it was in 2008. Every weekend, there is literally another country on the brink. Many of the larger i-banks are holding the debt of these countries, so yes that's a problem.