Gold at 700 was the Beginning of the End

The S&P 500 Index (yellow line) hit its most recent high in early October of 2007 (red arrow).  Since then it's been all downhill.  Were there any clear warning signs before the plunge began?

It's interesting to compare $SPX to $GOLD (the red line).  After creeping upwards consistently (on a log scale chart) since early 2001, gold spiked up to 715 in mid-2006 but quickly retreated back to its normal uptrend line.  However, gold's rate-of-increase increased as soon as it crossed 700 the second time in late August (blue vertical line).  $SPX began its fall soon afterwards.

Last November $GOLD retreated back to 705 before rallying again in the face to more bad economic news.  This suggests that the 700 level is important for both stocks and gold.  $GOLD probably needs to move below 700 in order to $SPX to begin a sustained recovery.