The Fed came and went. There wasn't much reaction as interest rates were left unchanged. The Dow gained 97 points on good volume. The advance/declines were slightly negative. The summation index remains in a channel. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 posted modest gains. The short term indicators for the S&P are still trending higher with room to go. The S&P did close above its near term down trend line. However we'll have inflation data to deal with tomorrow and it should show higher prices. There will also be big tech earnings to deal with. Gold finished up a couple bucks on the futures. The US dollar was slightly lower and interest rates were higher. The XAU was up 3 1/4 and GDX gained 3/4. Volume was light. The short term indicators for GDX appear to be beginning to stall. It would not be a surprise to see the gold shares lower on higher inflation data tomorrow. My GDX November calls continue to show a loss but less than before. This trade still has a chance to work given the amount of time left in it. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and its short term indicators are still moving down. It did finish up from the lows of the session though. The market made it through the Fed relatively unscathed. We'll see if it can get past the inflation numbers tomorrow. Europe and Asia were generally higher overnight. I'll keep an eye on tonights headlines.

Good upside for the overall market but the Dow only managed a gain of 16 points on good volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index remains in an upwards sloping channel. The NASDAQ led the way higher today, up over 1%. The S&P 500 had a decent gain as well. The short term indicators there are moving higher. The S&P is on the cusp of breaking through its short term down trend line. We've got big tech earnings to deal with this week and of course there's tomorrow with the Fed. No change in rates is the consensus but I would not be surprised if we get a hike. After all we have recent higher than expected inflation data and oil at new highs for the year. The new Fed chairman has talked about being tough on inflation but if the Fed doesn't raise rates in the face of the recent data perhaps there will be some credibility risk. Gold climbed $36 on the futures. The US dollar was higher and interest rates ticked up. The XAU gained 9 3/4, while GDX added a little over a couple of points. Volume was light. The short term indicators on GDX are starting to move up. My GDX November calls are still showing a modest loss. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and the short term indicators here are moving down. The daily candlestick chart for the VIX looks like it wants to go lower which would bode well for stocks. We'll have to see how things go after the Fed announcement. Europe was generally higher with the exception of the FTSE and Asia generally lower with the exception of Japan. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

A positive start to the week as the Dow gained 146 points on good volume. The advance/declines were slightly positive. The summation index remains in its channel. The NASDAQ led the way higher and that's a plus. Some of the short term indicators on the S&P 500 have started to move higher. Plenty of earnings out this week along with the Fed. Inflation data due on Thursday. So there will be plenty of excuses for the markets to move this week. I'm not exactly sure what to expect and I don't have any SPY option trades in mind at the moment. Gold rose $19 on the futures. The US dollar was a bit higher and interest rates finished mixed. The XAU was up 3 points, while GDX added around 3/4. Volume was light. GDX remains short term oversold. My GDX November calls are still showing a modest loss. Waiting to see how gold reacts to what comes out of the Fed on Wednesday. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today which fits an up market. Some of its short term indicators are turning lower. Most are at mid-range, which means it could go either way from here. I would think that things would be on hold ahead of the Fed unless some more geo-political tension shows up. We'll see. Asia and Europe were generally higher to begin the week. We'll keep an eye on the overnight developments.

Heading lower as buyers remain on the sidelines. The Dow fell 652 points on good volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index remains in an upward sloping channel. The NASDAQ only had a minor loss today while the S&P 500 dropped modestly. Stocks cannot gain any sort of traction to the upside and I don't see when that will change. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 are moving down with some already oversold. Near term up trend lines have been broken with perhaps some support at the 7550 area. The Dow lead the way lower today. Gold continues to fall with the futures off $45. The US dollar was higher along with interest rates. The XAU lost 6 3/8, while GDX shed 1 1/2. Volume was about average. The short term indicators for GDX are trending lower and are yet to be completely oversold. GDX closed below the lower rail on its decending trend channel and that probably spells more trouble for the gold shares. My GDX November calls are now showing a modest loss as this trade is clearly in trouble. Debating when to take the loss or hold out for some type of bounce given that these options still have a month to go. At this point it looke like this was the wrong time for this idea again. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up again today but did close below the 20 level. Its short term indicators are still moving higher with room to go. Volatility has picked up and perhaps anything goes for this indicator going forward. Stock markets are in uncommon ground right now as the usual technical indicators are not matching up with the current price movements. Probably heading to the sidelines is the most prudent course of action until things settle down. But the prospects of things returning to a more normal environment are dim at best with the Fed coming up, the US election and the ongoing geoplitical problems. I'll continue to go over the charts this weekend and try to figure out what to do with the GDX call trade. Asia was mixed and Europe lower to finish the week. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

Most stock indexes got whacked today but the Dow managed to end up with a small gain of 11 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is still in an upwards sloping channel. We got a signal last night for a big move from the McClellan oscillator and we saw that today. The NASDAQ fell over 2 1/2% and the S&P 500 lost 1 1/4%. A last minute bounce kept things from being worse. So much for my thought on new all time highs showing up soon. The short term indicators for the S&P are now heading down. Barring a turnaround tomorrow it appears that stocks are going lower from here. The NASDAQ is short term oversold, staying that way and is never a good thing. The question is who would be buying stocks ahead of the weekend and the Fed next week? Gold got clobbered as well with the futures losing $107. The US dollar was a bit lower and interest rates dropped dramatically in a flight to safety. No flight to safety for gold though. The XAU fell 19 1/2 and GDX lost 5 points. Volume was good to the downside. The short term indicators for GDX are heading down now with some already oversold. GDX has been traveling in a downward channel since the beginning of September. It remains in that channel but we are now down to the lower rail. A break of that will lead to more selling for the gold shares. The technical damage on the weekly chart after todays price action is hard to ignore. Unless there is a miracle turnaround for the gold shares tomorrow, the GDX November call idea will probably be a bad idea. My open order for the GDX November calls did get filled today. I had placed the order price in case of a drop for GDX so the entry price was not as bad as it could have been. That said I probably could have done a little better getting in. The trade is showing a small loss. Plenty of time for this trade to work but the techncial damage to the GDX chart cannot be taken lightly. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was higher today but did close below the 20 level. The short term indicators here have turned back up. Volatility has made a comeback and the VIX hasn't even closed above 20 yet. It could be that things are just starting to get interesting. I'm in the next trade now and it hasn't started out as you'd normally like things to go. Once again the management of the trade will determine how things turn out. Let's hope that I do a better job than the last time. Asia and Europe closed lower as it looks like a worldwide exit for stocks. I'll keep an eye on any overnight developments and we'll close out the trading week tomorrow.

Moving higher across the board today as the Dow gained 360 points on good volume. The advance/declines were even. The summation index continues to move up in a channel. The NASDAQ led the way higher and that's a plus. The S&P 500 had a decent gain and its short term indicators continue to move higher. Could we be on our way to new all time highs for the S&P 500? It's possible. Gold rose $7 on the futures. The US dollar finished unchanged and interest rates were barely higher. The XAU was up 1 1/2, while GDX added 1/2. Volume remains very light here. The short term indicators for GDX are beginning to track sideways. The near term down trend line here is now at 89. NEM reports earnings after the bell tomorrow. That could get GDX moving in either direction on Friday. My order for the GDX November calls remains unfilled. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and its short term indicators are moving down with room to go. The VIX seems to be giving the market a green light to move higher. As long as it continues on this path stocks should move up. However much of the week so far feels like it's in a holding pattern. Europe was higher and Asia lower with the exception of Japan. I'll keep an eye on tonights headlines.

Some early volatility but then it was sideways for the rest of the day. The Dow outperformed once again as it gained 529 points on good volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is traveling in a slightly upwards channel. The S&P 500 had a modest gain and the NASDAQ a very slight loss. The Dow in the lead is not the most bullish scenario. Some of the short term indicators for the S&P continue to trend higher. I'm not sure what's next here so no SPY option trades for now. Gold was off $19 on the futures. The US dollar was lower and interest rates were flat to lower. The XAU slipped 1 1/2, while GDX shed around 1/3. Volume is still pretty light here which shows no interest one way or another for the gold shares. Some of the short term indicators on GDX are pointing lower. My open order for the GDX November calls remains out there. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today which fits with an overall upside day for stocks. The short term indicators here are moving down with room to go. The VIX seems to imply that the market will be moving higher in the near term. The spike higher on Friday looks like a one day wonder at this point. Waiting on the next market catalyst to appear. Asia and Europe were lower overnight. We'll see how things go tomorrow.