A day of hanging around on expiration Friday as the Dow fell 83 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is moving up. Minor losses were posted by the major averages. The short term indicators for the S&P are still heading sideways. Rolling into the February option cycle which has an extra week in it. A holiday weekend here in the US as well. We are waiting for the next signal to put on the next trade. Gold dropped $35 on the futures. The US dollar finished little changed and interest rates continue to rise. The XAU and GDX had fractional moves higher on about average volume. The indicators for GDX simply remain overbought. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX ended the day flat. The short term indicators here are still mid-range. So the VIX remains in a position of implying that things could go either way. I'll be going over the charts during the long weekend as usual. Sometimes you have to remain patient in the game while awaiting the next perceived opportunity. That is the position that we are in now. It isn't always easy to wait but it is better than trying to force things. Markets go where they want. Europe and Asia were down with the exception of India. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

Some upside today but the market did fall from its best levels on the session. The Dow gained 292 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is moving up. The Dow was the leader again today and that isn't the most bullish scenario. It appears that my idea of the Dow reaching 50000 and the S&P hitting 7000 before option expiration isn't going to happen. The NASDAQ and S&P only had slight gains today. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 are starting to move sideways. We'll get through the expiration tomorrow ahead of a long weekend with Monday being a holiday in the US. Moving into the February option cycle and we'll see what we can do with that. Waiting on the next decent technical signal. Gold dipped $26 on the futures. The US dollar was higher along with interest rates. The XAU was up 1 3/8, while GDX rose about 1/4. Volume was light. GDX is overbought, staying that way and might be for a while. I suppose we could wait and see if it makes it back to the up trend line that began six months ago but that may not happen. All declines here are being bought. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was down today and some of the short term indicators have now moved lower. Most of the short term indicators here are mid-range or near that level. So where the VIX heads next is up in the air. I'm going to let expiration Friday go by and we'll take it from there. Asia was mostly lower and Europe mixed overnight. We'll close out the trading week tomorrow.

Lower overall today but the Dow only dropped 42 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is moving up. The inflation data was a bit higher than expected. The NASDAQ led the way down today off 1%. The S&P 500 posted a modest loss but did come back from the lows on the session. The short term indicators there have now rolled over from overbought territory. The short term up trend line for the S&P is still intact although we did reach down to touch it today. The market did not cooperate with the set up we preferred for the purchase of the SPY January puts so we will have to put that idea to rest. With only a couple of days left until option expiration the risk is too high and the time for that idea has probably passed. That doesn't mean that we can't go lower in the following sessions but we probalby should not going to risk any money on it. Gold was up $37 on the futures. The US dollar finished flat and interest rates dipped. The XAU added 1 1/8 and GDX was up around 1/3 on average volume. GDX simply continues to remain short term overbought. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up today but came off of its best levels. Most of the short term indicators are still moving up which still implies more selling in the near term. The problem here is that we are running out of time for the January options. The prudent course of action would be to roll into the February option cycle which has an extra week in it. Asia was generally higher and Europe generally lower overnight. We'll keep an eye on the overnight headlines.

The Dow took a hit today as it fell 398 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were slightly positive. The summation index continues higher. The inflation data came in where expected with more due tomorrow. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ posted small losses. This means our idea of buying the SPY puts is in jeopardy but we'll see how tomorrow plays out. The S&P 500 remains short term overbought. We still might try the SPY January puts on strength tomorrow or perhaps wait until Thursday. But the risk may not be worth it. Gold was off a dozen on the futures. The US dollar finished flat and interest rates were barely lower. The XAU was up 3 2/3, while GDX added 3/4 on about average volume. GDX continues to be short term overbought. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was higher today. The short term indicators here are now moving up which implies more near term selling for stocks. Not yet overbought for GDX but some of the indicators are close. Which means that any attempt at buying the SPY January puts has to be a strictly short term trade and shorter than the three days remaining on those contracts. Or perhaps we should simply pass on this idea. I'll ponder it overnight. Asia and Europe finished mixed overnight. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

The week starts with a dramatic one day upside reversal as stocks opened with a big gap lower only to come all the way back to close in positive territory. The Dow rose 86 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index continues higher. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 had modest gains. New highs for the Dow and S&P. The S&P remains short term overbought but still not completely. I did place an order overnight for the SPY January puts as the futures were weak. However I canceled it during the morning when it was obvious that the market was not about to tank. We are still considering getting the SPY puts if we continue to see strength into Wednesday morning. Inflation data due out the next couple of days. Not sure what the reaction will be as some of the numbers are old due to the US government shutdown. Gold was up over $100 on the futures today as uncertainty and geo-political tensions are still center stage. The US dollar was lower and interest rates finished little changed. The XAU was up about 14 points and GDX climbed 3 1/4. New highs for both. Volume was good to the upside. GDX is short term overbought and staying there. Obviously owning the GDX calls here was the way to go. This was once again a move that should have been chased. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was higher today which doesn't fit an up market. Still mid-range on the short term indicators which means things could go either way. It is possible that we will see the positive expiration week bias in effect which would make the SPY put idea the wrong one. But I'm willing to take the risk if the market cooperates in the next two sessions. We'll see. Asia and Europe closed higher with the exception of France. I'll keep an eye on the overnight developments.

Moving higher as the Dow gained 237 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is moving higher. New all time closing highs for the Dow and S&P 500. Waiting on the NASDAQ but at least it was the leader today. The jobs report had no surprises. The S&P 500 is short term overbought on some of its indicators but not completely. No overhead resistance for the S&P. I did place an overnight order for the SPY January calls again but it wasn't filled and I canceled the order. We've missed this trade and there are only five days left in the January option cycle. Might try the SPY puts near the end of next week if we get a set up. Gold was up $56 on the futures today. The US dollar was higher and interest rates finished mixed. The XAU was higher by 7 1/4, while GDX gained 7/8. Volume here remains on the light side. GDX is still short term overbought. No trades for us there right now. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today which fits an up market. Some of the short term indicators here are starting to turn back down. The VIX is implying more near term upside for stocks. I'll be going over all the charts this weekend but the odds of a trade for us in the January option cycle appear to be slim at this point. We'll see. Europe and Asia were higher to close out the week with the exception of India. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

A mixed bag today with the Dow up and NASDAQ down. The most watched index rose 270 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were better than 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is trying to move up. Just waiting on the jobs report at this point. The S&P 500 finished flat. The short term indicators there are still moving sideways. That should change tomorrow. There are a couple of up trend lines on the S&P that we are looking at. The shorter term one comes in at 6890, while the longer term one is at 6875. If the S&P can drift down to those levels we will be trying the SPY January calls. Running out of time in the January option cycle but that is the game plan at the moment. I may put in an open order for the calls overnight. Gold was up $25 on the futures. The US dollar was higher and interest rates ticked up. The XAU and GDX had fractional gains on light volume. GDX has gotten to short term overbought on some of its indicators. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX finished little changed. Still in a mid-range spot for the short term indicators there. So you could make your case either way. I'm not sure where the VIX goes from here. We'll see the market reaction to the employment report and take it from there. Asia was lower and Europe little changed overnight. We'll close out the first week of January tomorrow.