What a week so far… and it’s only Tuesday!  The Shanghai Composite index started off the week down 8.50% and US equities followed suit with the Dow Jones having over 1,000 point range yesterday.  The Vix index, a measure of volatility, exploded to trade all the way in the 50s, a level it hadn’t touched since the financial crisis of 2008.  The Dow Jones has now had six consecutive losing sessions and is down nearly 11% over that time period.  Overnight in China, the government tried to stem the selling pressure by cutting the benchmark interest rate by another 25 basis points.  While gold acted as a safe haven hedge last week, it succumbed to liquidation pressure over the past two days.  Platinum, palladium and silver, the more industrial precious metals, were hurt more by the rout in China than gold.  Near term support for gold and silver is coming in at $1,135 and $14.50, respectively.