There's a lot going on in the world right now, more than usual. In all seriousness, today's equity market losses were modest relative to what could go wrong in the various simmering global hot spots.

The NSA story is nothing short of HUGE, Turkey is indicative of a much larger feeling of uneasiness coursing throughout the Arab world, the Korean tension is far from settled, Japan is a bug looking for a windshield, and the emerging markets (economies & markets) are in massive turmoil.....did I leave anything out?

It just seems as if there is a lot more that can go wrong right now than can go right - markets seemed to agree with this assessment at least for today. If I were only able to take away one observation from today's market action it would be the large bullish outside reversal in 30-year US Treasury bonds:

A powerful "risk-off" move in US Treasuries

A powerful "risk-off" move in US Treasuries

With so much that could go wrong, US real yields likely to move back into negative territory shortly, and equities facing a steeper correction - gold isn't a bad place to be right now:

Gold has fallen 60 points in the last 4 days and it's still holding above the uptrend line, off the recent lows and key support at $1375 an ounce. A move back above 1400 would be very bullish.

Today's action indicates that there is a very good chance the S&P 500 will at least test the rising 50- day SMA again before the end of the week - a weekly close below 1598 would be indicative that a much more severe correction is underway.

Today's action indicates that there is a very good chance the S&P 500 will at least test the rising 50- day SMA again before the end of the week - a weekly close below 1598 would be indicative that a much more severe correction is underway.

I also like select gold miners into any further dips, such as: PVG at $7.50 or below, GG at $27.50 or below, and ABX at $19.50 or below.