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.

It was a day of consolidating yesterdays gains as the market simply treaded water and moved sideways on the session. The Dow rose 4 points on good volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is trending higher. The NASDAQ continues to be the outperformer. The S&P 500 had a slight gain as the short term indicators continue to move up. I'm waiting on a some kind of techincal signal to attempt the next trade. Not sure how long that will take. No hurry as the option premiums are high since we just rolled into the April cycle. Gold was up $9 on the futures. The US dollar was slightly lower as were interest rates. The XAU was up 2 7/8, while GDX added 3/4. Volume was light. The gold shares finished off of their best levels on the day. The daily candlestick chart for GDX has a potential shooting star top in place after today but we'll have to wait and see where things go from here for that to be valid. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was down and closed below its 200 day moving average. The short term indicators here are oversold but can stay that way during rallies. Not sure what's next here for the VIX but there is an up trend line that comes in around 16 which is a point away. I'm leaning towards trying the SPY April puts if it gets above 580 and the short term indicators are overbought. Hasn't happened yet. Europe and Asia trended higher with the exception of the Hang Seng. We'll see where things go tomorrow.

A huge gap up at the open and the market never looked back as the Dow gained 598 points on good volume. The advance/declines were around 3 to 1 positive. The summation index is trying to get some upside momentum. The NASDAQ was the leader and that is always a plus. We had plenty of medium term buy signals and today verifies that. The S&P 500 finally broke through the short term down trend line that was in control since mid-February when the decline began. Interesting that stocks waited until after option expiration to get things going. The short term indicators on the S&P are moving higher with room to go. It closed above the 200 day moving average with the 50 day as the next resistance. We never did get a retest of the lows. I'll wait for the next decent technical signal before entering the next trade. Can we just keep moving up here and on to new all time highs? Anything is possible in the marketplace but I'm not counting on that scenario. Gold was off $8 on the futures. The US dollar was higher along with interest rates. The XAU was flat and GDX dropped 1/4. Volume was light. GDX remains short term overbought with the indicators trending sideways. No trades here for now. Mentally I'm feeling a bit tired. The VIX was lower today and now is firmly below the 20 level. The short term indicators are oversold. The VIX closed below its 50 day moving average with the 200 day in sight. I'd be surprised if the VIX turns around and heads back over 20 right away but anything goes in this game. Asia was generally higher and Europe slightly lower to begin the trading week. We'll keep an eye on tonight headlines.