Tried to rally but not just yet as the Dow lost 62 points on average volume. The advance/declines were negative. We opened higher and were up over 80 points but could not hold the gains. Oversold here and due for some type of bounce but the market is hostage to the US debt news at this point. I still will be getting some OEX puts if we bounce. Summation index heading lower. GE was higher early and couldn't hold its gains as well to finish the day flat. Volume was light. Gold lost a buck while the XAU fell 2 1/4. The dollar was a bit higher today. ABX lost 1/3, GG dropped 1 7/8 while NEM gained 3/8. My GG August calls got clobbered. The earnings were great but the guidance was lousy going forward. It was a 60% loss overnight for me. I made a mistake and I'm moving on. I still like the gold shares if we sell off some more. August and September are the 2 historically good months for the price of gold. Not oversold enough there yet though. Mentally I'm feeling tired, not enough sleep. The market is weak and what happens after a debt deal is reached will be important. We should rally pretty good because the uncertainty will be gone. But if we don't, things could get ugly. I would like to buy some OEX puts next week if the market cooperates. As for the GG trade, I probably shouldn't have tried it but hindsight is always right. My trading since the beginning of the year has been horrendous. In fact I have been in a losing funk for a year and a half. If not for a couple of decent trades early this year I would be way down again. I need to get it together and it isn't easy when confidence is low. I think I will let tomorrow pass and regroup over the weekend.