The precipitous drop in crude is being factored into the equities markets this afternoon, as we can see after prices in New York bounced off the day’s low. This has profound implications for the bull market we’ve experienced recently.

Many financial pundits are saying that the nearly catastrophic decline in crude prices is at the heart of today’s steep drop in stocks. That steep drop is, in turn, responsible for a movement into gold, so goes the argument.

The holidays are slouching toward an end and the dollar almighty is ruling the road. The euro was down about 1% against the U.S. currency and, accordingly, oil fell – but even more than that, around 1.3%.