It’s always something. The dollar returned in pure powerhouse mode today and everything in sight was beaten up, dragged around and kicked down the alley.

The dollar peeled $11.50 from the price of gold, even as regular trading was adding almost $5.50. The net in mid-afternoon trading is that gold is off $6. Not that it was alone in its dollar-driven drop.

With no economic news today, the focus of markets was the reevaluation of economic data that astounded last week, namely the overheated new-jobs-creation figure of 295,000.

Initial market reactions to the announcement by the U.S. Department of Labor that 295,000 new jobs had been added in February were surprisingly downbeat. The reason is clear.

The euro is down about 0.45% against the U.S. dollar and gold is suffering at the hands of that dollar strength. The euro, though which has recovered a tiny amount, dropped below 1.10 for the first time since 2003. That is a particularly hard climate for gold to prosper in.

There was no winning for gold against the powerful U.S. dollar surge that came on the back of twin releases of good news for the American economy. Curious, though, was the softening of U.S. equities markets. The uptick in oil, despite dollar robustness, was a small surprise but fully explicable.

Despite a helpful push from a lower U.S. dollar, today gold is struggling right around the 1202/1203 mark in late afternoon trading in New York. It’s not alone in its struggle.

After some initial physical demand in Asian markets, gold quickly backtracked as it was hit by a dose of reality in New York. Also, China lowered its benchmark interest rate, giving the dollar some extra cause for strength.

A small taste of haven demand returned to the gold market today. “Why” isn’t perfectly clear, but there are some theories we’ll flesh out. A strong rise in crude prices can be considered an outside bullish influence on the day, as can a blah Friday in equities trading in New York.

An epic battle was joined between a rising dollar (thus sinking gold), and a solid rise in regular trading that rode the strength of technical momentum.

The investing world again today is hanging on what Janet Yellen, Chairwoman of the Fed, says in Congressional hearings, this time in front of a House panel. Is anyone seriously thinking she will change her tune from yesterday? From the FOMC minutes released last week? Or the press statement issued in late January? What’s the issue, boys and girls?