Today’s big movers were crude oil’s two benchmark products, West Texas and Brent.

That gave U.S. equities strong push up, as other materials and components also showed strength. It is too early to call emphatically, but we could be looking at a commodities and materials inspired rally after the bottoming out we witnessed Monday in the sector.

The big news for traders today is that we ran into a plunge in gold and silver prices that caught most people off guard. The regular selling was based on the technical apprehension that gold failed to break through the $1300 mark Friday.

One might have believed that was a distinct possibility because of the weak U.S. jobs number. Alas, it did not occur.

The disappointing jobs report for April issued by the Labor Department today might be just the prescription for stabilizing markets across a broad spectrum.

That statement does not endorse any price-move direction in particular but merely indicates rough waters have become smoothed out to some extent. In fact, the CBOE’s VIX showed volatility decreased by more than 6.00% today.

Regular trading in gold and silver came back to life today. It could not, however, push hard enough against the strengthening of the U.S. dollar, which, when all is said and done, is the key component in markets.

Gold is off about $4.00 and silver 5 cents in mid-afternoon trading. ($1.40 and 4 cents respectively at close)

We’re concerned about volatility in almost every market you can name. Call it whatever you would like, but we are calling it a crisis of faith in the overall world economy. It may be a bit misguided, but the uncertainty is a fact of life.

Crude oil analysts have to make you laugh. But it’s a dark joke filled with dishonesty.

As oil enters its third straight day of losses, headlines are suddenly again reading along these lines: “Oversupply Worries Traders”; “Seasonal Demand for Crude Dips as Summer Gasoline Blend Transition Tapers”; “OPEC Production Up”; “Sluggish World Economy Stifles Oil Prices.”

Gold and silver pulled back today in spite of dollar weakness, which took some of the sting out of an unexpected round of profit taking in regular trading.

Most of us don’t ask many questions when our investments catapult upward, but it behooves us to do so today because the down ticking in equities is fast becoming a route.

In fact, stocks may be on the verge of a correction and that will generate more good news in precious metals. Here is the good news for those who are invested in gold and silver right now.

Today we experienced classic risk-off market movements.

Gold and the rest of the precious metals complex led the parade out of equities. At 3PM in New York, gold is up nearly $18 or 1.45%. Silver performed even more strongly, rising 1.70%. Platinum and palladium were the best percentage performers, up 2.00% and 1.8% respectively.

True to our expectations, the Fed held rates and sounded a few caution notes about the U.S. economy for the short term. It’s painting of the middle term prospects are rosier but there is evidently no call to dance around your hat and shoot your six guns in the air.