I think you are right that there are many factors driving gold ahead,however I believe the decoupling we saw last Friday was most significant as the short term spot was actually about $4.00 higher than the Dec. contract. A December contract should reflect the price of spot gold plus the cost of holding that gold untill December. When the spot was briefly more in demand than the futures contract, that showed IMHO without a doubt that investors were afraid, and the dollar was no longer their only choice. They wanted gold and they wanted it now.