Superficially, it seems that equities fell because of yet more mixed data coming from the American economy. It’s a bit more nuanced than that.

We are faced today with end of month/end of quarter maneuvering. Investors usually rebalance their portfolios at the end of a month, and do even more juggling at the end of a quarter, which was certainly the case for equities.

Optimism returned to the equities markets ‘round the world and with it brought renewed strength in the U.S. dollar.

That combination spelled trouble for gold.