The market threw a tariff tantrum today as stocks suffered huge losses. The Dow fell 1679 points on very heavy volume. The advance/declines were 7 to 1 negative. This will turn the summation index back down and on its way to the zero line. The tariffs that perhaps were going to give us some clarity instead have created even more uncertainty. The was a giant gap down at the open and stocks never came back. The NASDAQ fell over 1000 points or 6% for the session. It led the way lower. The S&P 500 lost roughly 275 points. The previous near term lows were taken out. The short term indicators here are moving back lower with room to go. Not sure how low we'll go here on the S&P. There is some support at 5200 and the longer term up trend line that began at the bottom in 2022 comes in at 5000. Either target is in play as is looks like we'll be going through the zero line on the summation index. The down trend line on the S&P daily chart is still in charge. Gold dropped $37 on the futures but did come back from the worst levels on the day. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. The XAU fell 3 points, while GDX ended the day flat. Volume was good. They both ended up from their lows as well. I did place an order overnight for some GDX April calls but canceled it before the bell when GDX was about to open 4 1/2% lower. I did try again for some calls later in the day but my order wasn't filled. The short term indicators for GDX are starting to trend lower. However money is still finding a home in gold and I'd like to try the calls here if GDX can get back to its up trend line that began in January. One caveat is that GDX is both short and medium term overbought. However it can stay that way during rallies and we are in one now for gold. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX jumped today and closed at the 30 level. The short term indicators are now moving up and getting to overbought territory. The daily candlestick chart that I thought was going to go lower has completely turned around. You can expect more volatility in the days to come and I'm not sure how high the VIX will go. Tomorrow we've got the employment report and then a speech by the Fed chairman. So it should be a wild end to the trading week. Still two weeks to go in the April option cycle. However option premiums are high and the environment is even more uncertain than usual. There will be opportunities though. Europe and Asia sank overnight. We'll close out the week tomorrow.

A back and forth session ahead of the after the bell tariffs news but the Dow managed a gain of 235 points on average volume. The advance/declines were better than 2 to 1 positive. This should turn the summation index back up. The NASDAQ led the way again today and that remains a positive. The short term indicators on the S&P 500 are now trending higher. The S&P remains below its 200 day moving average and the short term down trend line. However I am still more inclined to believe that we'll be heading higher in the near term. I could be wrong. Once we get past the tariff event there's still the jobs report on Friday to deal with. Gold was up $18 on the futures. The US dollar was lower and interest rates ticked up. The XAU was up 5/8 and GDX finished flat. Volume was light. GDX has trended sideways for a week. The daily candlestick chart here looks like it wants to go higher though GDX remains short term overbought. I'm still on the side of waiting until it returns to the short term up trend line at 43 before trying the calls here. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was a bit lower today. The short term indicators here are now at mid-range. So it appears the VIX is poised now to move either way. The daily candlestick chart here still looks like it wants to move lower. We'll see how the markets react to the tariffs details and take it from there. Asia was generally higher and Europe down overnight. Tomorrow should be interesting.

Waiting on the tariffs as the Dow dropped 11 points on average volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is still trending lower. The NASDAQ was the leader today and that is a plus. I'm getting the feeling that we have at least put in a short term low here and we'll challenge the short term down trend line on the S&P soon. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 are trying to turn up. It looks like weakness today should have been bought but we'll have to see what tomorrow brings. But it is possible that for now the market is sold out. Gold finished flat on the futures. The US dollar ended flat as well, while interest rates were slightly lower. The XAU and GDX had slight fractional moves one way or the other on light volume. The short term indicators for GDX remain overbought. We'll see how gold reacts to what comes out of the tariff news tomorrow. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was a bit lower today. Some of the short term indicators here are starting to move sideways. I'm still thining that the VIX will move lower and stocks higher in the near term. One thing that the market does not like is uncertainty. Getting the tariff news out of the way will take care of some of that. So I would not be surprised if we see some buying tomorrow regardless of what the tariffs are. We'll see. Europe and Asia were higher with the exception of India. We'll see how things go tomorrow.

Most of the major stock averages made tremendous comebacks today as we opened with huge gaps lower and then spent the rest of the session moving higher. The Dow gained 417 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were barely positive. The summation index is trending lower. The NASDAQ was the laggard today as it did not make it back to positive territory. The S&P 500 retested the recent low this morning and it has held for now. There is a new short term down trend line in place there that comes in around 5750. Some of the short term indicators for the S&P are starting to turn back up. The question now is have we put in a bottom with the successful retest of the lows or will things roll over again? The summation index heading to the zero line implies that we might fall apart here. However todays sharp comeback says that perhaps we've put a double bottom in. Always plenty of questions in this game. Gold was up over forty bucks on the futures to another all time high. The US dollar was a bit higher and interest rates finished flat. The XAU and GDX had fractional gains on average volume. The gold shares finished well up from their lows on the session. GDX remains short term overbought as it has been for the last three weeks. Perhaps we should just chase the gold shares higher here as money continues to flow into this sector. But I'm inclined to at least wait until it falls back to the near term up trend line. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX finished a bit higher today and the short term indicators are still moving up. The daily candlestick chart on the VIX shows a black candle for today and it could be a near term top. That would mean lower VIX readings for the near future and higher stock prices. However we do have Trumps tariffs on Wednesday and the employment report on Friday. Plenty for the markets to digest this week. At this point I'm not sure what the next trade will be. Asia and Europe started the week on a down note. We'll see how things go in the overnight session.

Stocks got clobbered today as the Dow fell 715 points on good volume. The advance/declines were 4 to 1 negative. The summation index is turning down. The inflation data was slightly worse than expected. We started with a gap lower and never looked back. The NASDAQ led the way down and that is not a plus. The S&P 500 dropped over 110 points as we are headed towards a retest of the recent lows. At this rate they will not hold. The short term indicators for the S&P have rolled over, are heading down and have room to go. Getting pretty far from the 50 day moving average again here but that may not matter. If the summation index continues to the zero line it will get ugly. How do we trade it from here is the question. Gold was up over twenty bucks on the futures. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. The XAU fell 2 points and GDX lost 1/8. Volume was average. The gold shares opened higher and closed lower for a downside reversal. Perhaps today will lead to a pullback for GDX and maybe we'll get to try the GDX April calls. A move back to the near term up trend line might give us a chance. Mentally I'm feeling as though I'm missing out on opportunity here but the option premiums are so high that taking a chance now is expensive. Missed money is better than lost money they say. The VIX zoomed higher today and is back above 20. The short term indicators here are now moving higher with room to go. We've got Trump tariff news in the middle of next week which should provide even more volatility. Not sure exactly what to expect there. Plenty of work to do over the weekend as I try and develop some type of trading plan for next week. Europe and Asia were both down to finish the week as markets always know more than we do. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

The market is trying to figure out what to do here as the Dow fell 155 points on average volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is moving sideways. There was a gap lower at the open and the rest of the day was spent moving back and forth from negative to positive territory. I'm not sure what will happen next so it will be the sidelines for now regarding the next trade. Inflation data out tomorrow. The short term indicators for the S&P are moving sideways or heading lower. The short term up trend line is still in place but another negative session would put and end to that. Gold was up $47 on the futures to a new all time high. The US dollar was lower and interest rates finished mostly flat. The XAU was up 3 3/8, while GDX added a point. Volume was light. The potential evening star on the GDX daily candlestick chart turned out to be invalid as GDX has now closed above it. Still short term overbought on GDX and staying that way. Getting pretty far from the 50 day moving average here again. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up today and closed on its 50 day moving average. Still short term oversold on many of its indicators. Not sure what we'll see next here for the VIX. Europe and Asia were lower with the exception of Japan. We'll close out the trading week tomorrow.

Sellers had the upper hand today as the Dow fell 132 points on average volume. The advance/declines were shy of 2 to 1 negative. The summation index is beginning to stall. The NASDAQ was by far the weakest today and that is not a plus. The S&P 500 has stalled at its 200 day moving average. The short term indicators here are beginning to turn lower. Could the bounce off of the recent lows be over? Time will tell on that. The short term up trend line for the S&P is still intact. Not in a rush to do any trade here so we'll watch and wait for now. Gold dipped $3 on the futures. The US dollar was up today and interest rates were slightly higher. The XAU was down 1 7/8 and GDX lost 1/3. Volume was pretty light. The short term indicators for GDX are still overbought and now trending sideways as the gold shares try to figure out what's next. Mentally I'm feeling tired. The VIX was higher today which fits a down market. The short term indicators are turning up from oversold territory. This implies higher volatility and lower prices to come. The VIX is still below its 50 day moving average and during up swings it can stay oversold for a while. So the jury is still out on what the VIX means here. Perhaps we'll get better clues tomorrow. Europe was mostly lower and Asia higher with the exception of India overnight. I'll keep an eye on tonights developments.