Today was the most anticipated FED news conference since TRANSPARENCY became the buzz word of the post-Greenspan era. The FED Chairman took center stage (he was deputized) to bring clarity to the issue of ending the FED‘s large-scale asset purchase program. Mr. Bernanke made sure that the financial world understood that tapering was not tightening. Well, the market may have heard but it did not listen. The Chairman’s words gave impetus to a selloff of EQUITIES, BONDS and precious metals. Overall, the rise in interest rates evidently led to a deleveraging of a mass of positions dependent upon massive leveraged positions, especially in EMERGING MARKET CURRENCIES. The Brazilian real made four-year lows and the Mexican peso was also under severe pressure as higher U.S. interest rates are expected to force a repatriation of funds back to the safe waters of the U.S.