As market prognosticators search for something to pin the recent weakness on (Ebola panic, macro data weakness, global growth scare, M&A boom over, fund liquidations, oil crash.. and so on), there is one much larger driver of hysteria that is missing from this list... The Moon and the madness of crowds. While perhaps a little 'out there' the coincidence of full moon's major gravitational impacts and turning points in stock market volatility is remarkable... Of course, the surge in volatility also coincides with the end of QE (in seasonally-painful October no less) as the gap between reality and market perception finally becomes clear... Charts: Bloomberg and @Not_Jim_Cramer