Ah....

While I did suggest in an earlier post that we should not hold our breath on this morning's 400-point rally (inspired by dovish Fed commentary), I wasn't expecting quite an 800-point decline from that level (Dow closed down 414). 

I somehow missed the White House trade adviser Navarro newsflash below, which -- government shutdown, and trader positioning, notwithstanding -- makes today's big decline make perfect sense:

Navarro, a well-known trade hawk, told Japanese newspaper Nikkei that it would be "difficult" for the two countries to arrive at a long-term agreement unless "Beijing was prepared for a full overhaul of its trade and industrial practices."

The publication of his comments helped send the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its lows on Friday. The Dow finished the week lower by 6.8 percent, for its worst week in 10 years.

As I continue to stress, this is the overarching issue of the day. 
And, make no mistake, rhetoric like this could effectively mute any near-term rallies we might experience on good news regarding the government shutdown, or Fed policy.