Although gold is trading higher on the day, it is most definitely well off of the intraday high achieved when gold futures hit $1525.80.

U.S. equities sold off sharply today having the worst performance in a single day since August 23. As of 4:06 PM EDT the Dow Jones industrial average has closed down 494.42 points, a net decline of 1.86% today with the average currently fixed at 26,078.62.

Gold had a solid performance today following the release of the ISM index (manufacturing) data which contracted from 49.1 in August versus 47.8 in September.