Hugh? What is up with this Economy?

Ok. I took several Econ classes both as an undergraduate and as a graduate student but I am really confused about what is happening this week with the economy. So global markets are obviously retreating. The MSCI World Index is down 20% this week. This is a measure of developing countries equity performance. At the same time silver drops 18% the worst in decades and gold is off significantly as well. As I understood it investors are more likely to flee from equities into gold and silver. But what are they doing now? Are they just sitting on cash or is the money going somewhere else?

All my friends who are much smarter than me. What are you thinking right now about what is happening?

Sincerely your confused friend,
Barett