Wall Street Sees Red

Bad economic data from China has lead to a sell off in global stock markets with all of the major indices down sharply today. Commodities took the biggest hit with oil dropping almost 3% currently at $88.64 a barrel. But by far the hardest hit is in the precious metals market where gold and silver have been hammered. Gold has plunged more than 7% today and near 13% since Thursday. Silver is down almost 9% on the day. The announcement that the EU and IMF are going to force Cyprus to sell off most of the nation's gold reserves as a condition for their bailout has investors worried that Spain, Italy and Portugal may be ordered to do the same thing. Additionally inflation estimates from several EU countries have come in lower than expected.

US Treasury securities have been rallying with the yield on the ten year bond falling to 1.7%.