Human nature tends to create followers as a whole because of confidence. Financial Panics unfold because the whole is in a state of panic. This is why paper-shorts are so essential to stabilizing the markets. When everyone is in a state of panic, only a mad man would buy. The short player is critical for he is the lone soul to step up and buy when everyone is in a panic. This is human nature.
There are food panic in Ukraine right now. People have seen their currency drop and food rise 300% in price. People are stockpiling whatever they can get now because they ASSUME it will cost more later. This is a panic to the upside.
People also will want whatever they could not have before. This is why gold became precious. At first it was only fit for kings. As gold became more common, the aristocrats were allowed to use it. Then as massive finds of gold appeared in Turkey, it became available to the commoner and then it had the support within the broad-base of society and migrated to coinage.
Look at all the Russian women who have migrated around the world. Under communism, they were stripped of all wealth. Now, Russian women are the best dressed and would never be caught in t-shirt and jeans food shopping. They are always the best dressed because they were not allowed such luxuries.
These are basic traits of human nature that are behind the market trends. This is what government tries to influence and constantly take polls.
