The overall market continued higher but the Dow fell 72 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is moving up. The NASDAQ is still leading the way higher and that's bullish. Both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 closed at new all time highs. They are both moving up in a straight line and now there is no overhead resistance. The short term indicators here on the S&P are still extremely overbought and staying that way. I'm not sure what to say except that the rally from the beginning of the month has been extraordinary. It is quite unusual to have so many days in a row to the upside. Not sure how much longer this can go on. Gold dropped $28 on the futures. The US dollar was a bit lower and interest rates a bit higher. The XAU fell 9 1/3 and GDX lost 3. Volume remains light here. The short term indicators for GDX are beginning to roll over. We'll see if we get any follow through selling tomorrow. Mentally I'm feeling tired. The VIX was a touch lower. It remains short term oversold. It can stay this way for an extended period of time during rallies like the one we are seeing right now. I'm remaining on the sidelines to wait for the next technical set up. It is the prudent thing to do with only two days left in the April option cycle. We've moved on after booking yesterdays loss as you always have to keep moving forward in this game. Asia was higher and Europe generally lower overnight. I'll keep watch for the tonights developments.

Another day, another gain as stock indexes continue to rise. The Dow gained 317 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. The summation index continues higher. The inflation data came in much lighter than expected. We had a gap higher at the open and never looked back. The NASDAQ is still leading this bull run. As long as that is the case the rally should move forward. Indices are as overbought as they can get or so it seems. When the technical indicators don't work anymore it is time to step aside. The S&P 500 posted another decent gain. The short term indicators are stuck in overbought territory. It is knocking on the door of reaching a new all time high. Stocks markets have been moving straight up for two weeks. I don't know how much longer that can continue. Gold was up almost a hundred bucks today on the futures. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. The XAU gained 6 1/3, while GDX added 2 points. Volume remains light here. GDX like the overall market is short term overbought and staying that way. I dumped the GDX April puts that I had for a 90% loss. This trade was mismanaged by me about as bad as it gets. It did show a small profit early on but quickly moved the other way. I did not have a stop loss order on it which was another mistake. When the gold shares were acting better than gold itself I still held on to the losing position despite the signs that it was time to hit the exit. The trade should have been closed yesterday when gold came back from its early sell off overnight. There were plenty of chances to get out with a smaller loss but I didn't take them. The only minor saving grace is that I was initially going to take a bigger position and chose a smaller one. Mentally I'm feeling a bit distracted. The VIX is still heading lower and remains short term oversold. Sometimes it can stay oversold for weeks and this looks like it could be one of those times. Three days left in the April option cycle and if my brain still works I'll be sitting on the sidelines. As much as I think the puts will work at some point this week, the technical signals that we are getting just are not working right now. We should have seen at least some kind of decent sell off by now if only for a day. But as always the market goes where it wants and knows much more than me. Europe and Asia were higher with the exception of India. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Stocks start the week off on a positive note as the Dow gained 301 points on good volume. The advance/declines were better than 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is moving up. Even the geo-political news about the war in Iran didn't phase things. However the market is extremely overbought on both a short and midium term basis at this point. It cannot stay that way forever. The NASDAQ led the way again and that's a plus. The S&P 500 had a solid gain and at this rate will be reaching new all time highs before the end of the month. The short term indicators for the S&P continue to remain overbought. Do we consider a short term trade with the SPY April puts? I'll think about it overnight. Gold was off twenty bucks on the futures but came up from the lows on the session. The US dollar was lower and so were interest rates. The XAU dipped 2 1/8, while GDX slipped 1/2. Volume was very light. The short term indicators for GDX remain overbought. My GDX April put trade is on life support. Unless we see some kind of decent decline in the gold shares tomorrow this trade will be a loser. The short term up trend line for GDX was broken today. But it is probably too late to save this trade. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX opened above the 20 level today but reversed and closed backdown to be lower on the day. Its short term indicators remain oversold. The VIX can remain oversold for some time during rallies like the one we find ourselves in right now. We'll get inflation data tomorrow and the Iran conflict remains center stage. Europe and Asia were lower to begin the week. I'll keep an eye on tonights headlines.

Just hanging around today for the most part although the Dow did drop 269 points on light volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is moving up. It was a mixed bag with the NASDAQ posting a gain and the S&P 500 having a small loss. The inflation data came in high but a touch less than expected. But the market is still being held hostage by the war in Iran. Whatever happens with the peace talks over the weekend will determine how we open on Monday. The S&P 500 remains short term overbought on the daily indicators. It is overdue now for some kind of drop but in rallies it stays overbought as it has this week. We have option expiration week on tap as well. The SPY April options remain pricey with only a week to go. Gold was off $34 on the futures. The US dollar was slightly lower and interest rates slightly higher. The XAU was up about 5 1/2 and GDX rose 7/8. Volume was light. Some of the short term indicators for GDX are still overbought. Gold down and the gold shares up is bullish for the gold shares. My GDX April puts are now showing a modest loss. I'm stuck holding them for now over the weekend. This trade has now turned into a cut the loss proposition depending on the open Monday. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and remains short term oversold. Despite being oversold this indicator implies higher stock prices yet to come. Still below thw 20 level which is bullish for stocks going forward. We'll be going over the charts this weekend as usual. However the news from the peace talks will be center stage as far as where things go from here are concerned. It's anybodies guess what comes out of that. Asia was higher and Europe little changed to finish off the week. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

Continuing higher as the Dow gained 276 points on good volume. The advance/declines were around 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is moving up. Inflation data came in where expected. The NASDAQ led the way today and that's a plus for the bulls. The S&P 500 had a decent gain. Some of the short term indicators there are now overbought. The short term sell signal that we received from one of our indicators isn't working. That tells us something as well. The market is acting strongly here and any selling that we do see should be short lived. It appears that now declines can be bought. Gold was up $16 on the futures. The US dollar was lower and interest rates finished flat. The XAU and GDX ended the session little changed on light volume. GDX remains short term overbought on some of its indicators. The GDX April puts that I purchased yesterday are now back at break-even. We'll see if gold reacts to tomorrows inflation data and take it from there. Not sure that I want to hold this position over the weekend. Mentally I'm feeling a bit tired. The VIX continued lower today and closed below 20. Its short term indicators are now oversold. They can stay that way during rallies like the one we are in right now. It appears that the technical signs are pointing towards higher prices going forward. However we are still at the mercy of the next headline from the war in Iran. Asia and Europe were lower overnight. We'll close out the week tomorrow.

A cease-fire in the Iran conflict probpted a huge rally today as the Dow soared 1325 on pretty heavy volume. The advance/declines were 5 to 1 positive. The summation index is heading up. There was a huge gap to the upside for most stock indices at the open and the gains were held all session long. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 are moving up and are almost overbought. We are getting a sell signal from one of our indicators that we rely on. Perhaps that will come to fruition before the weekend. But we are still at the mercy of the next headline. Inflation data coming out for the next two sessions. Still on the sidelines with regards to the SPY options for now. Gold was up $70 on the futures but fell from the best levels of the day. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. The XAU gained 12 2/3, while GDX climbed over 3 1/8. Volume was above average. The short term indicators for GDX are still tracking sideways with some in overbought territory. I canceled my open order for the GDX April puts overnight as markets were going wild to the upside and I didn't know where the GDX options would open. There was huge gap higher in the gold shares at the open. I placed another order for the GDX puts in the morning and it did get filled. It is showing a slight gain. The idea is to sell them before the weekend after we see the inflation data. The short term technical overbought condition on GDX hopefully works in our favor. But markets can stay overbought for a while sometimes. So we'll see. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX had a gap lower today which fits with what we saw in stocks. The short term indicators here are heading lower. The VIX broke and closed below its longer term up trend line that began at the beginning of the year. This implies that stocks will be in rally mode. It is still above the 20 level though. I'm in the next trade now and the management of it will be the key to the outcome. The markets still have above average risk right now so holding on to this position for an extended period of time may not be the best idea. Seven days to go in the April option cycle. Asia and Europe had huge gains overnight. I'll keep an eye on the overnight developments.

Waiting around to see what's next out of Iran as the Dow fell 85 points on good volume. The advance/declines were slightly negative. The summation index is trending higher. We traded lower today until the last hour when a rally moved many stocks back to the plus side. Both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 posted slight gains. Most of the short term indicators for the S&P are still trending up. Not sure what tomorrow will bring as we are still at the mercy of headline risk. Staying on the sidelines with regards to the SPY options for now. Gold was up $41 on the futures. The US dollar was lower and interest rates were flat to lower. The XAU was up 2 3/8, while GDX added almost a point. Volume was light. The short term indicators for GDX are moving sideways with some of them overbought. My open order for the GDX April puts remains out there. Could get filled if we see the gold shares move higher tomorrow. I still like the idea of this trade ahead of the inflation reports. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up today but off from its best levels on the session. The short term indicators here are turning back up. If they succeed the market will head lower. However the markets are simply waiting to see if the United States starts bombing Iran tonight. That is what the near term trade boils down to. Europe was lower and Asia mixed in last nights trade overseas. I'll keep an eye on tonights headlines.