A nondescript start to the week as the Dow fell 200 points on light volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is moving higher. No follow through to Fridays good gains but some profit taking could be expected. It is a light week for economic data. The S&P 500 remains short term overbought as does the NASDAQ. The Dow was the leader going lower. No SPY trades in mind for now. Gold gained $8 on the futures. The US dollar finished unchanged and interest rates were flat as well. The XAU and GDX ended little changed too. Volume was light. My GDX June calls are still in the red. The longer term up trend line for gold and GDX remains intact for now. A break of that line will end the current trade and I'll have to take the loss. The weekly technical indicators for GDX are mid-range so it could go either way here. We'll hold for now. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up slightly and remains short term oversold. The level here remains below 15 and that is bullish. Getting pretty far from the 50 day moving average though. Not much else to report for the first Monday in June. Asia up and Europe down overnight. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

The Dow exploded to the upside today as it gained 701 points on good volume. The advance/declines were just shy of 6 to 1 positive. The summation index has turned around and is now moving higher. The zero line there has held for now. The jobs report came in hot with expanding job creation. The other details of the report were a touch weaker. The stock market liked what it saw but the Dow was the leader today. It looks like perhaps the summer rally is starting early this year. The S&P 500 appears to be on its way to the next resistance level at 4300. Short term overbought here with a little room left for the indicators to move higher. The NASDAQ remains overbought as it has been for weeks. It was a good week for stocks. Gold got pounded today as the futures were off thirty bucks. The US dollar was higher along with interest rates. The XAU fell a point and GDX lost 5/8. Volume was good to the downside. My GDX June calls are back in the red. The daily candlestick chart here now looks bearish ot at least implying sideways price action. I thought about just selling this position and taking the small loss but the price movement today in the gold shares did not match the magnitude of the drop in gold itself. Still 2 weeks to go here but I'm certainly not sure that this idea will pan out. We got the oversold bounce for GDX this week but todays price action puts a damper on things. GDX is still above the longer term up trend line but we will have to see if that holds next week. Gold itself is in the same situation. Mentally I'm feeling anxious as I probably should have sold out this GDX position for a loss today. But we'll see what happens next week. The VIX continues to drop and closed below the 15 level today. This is bullish for stocks. Short term oversold now but in rallies the VIX stays that way. The market always knows more than we do. Not sure where the liquidity is coming from but I would not advise fighting the up trend. We'll go over the charts this weekend as usual. Asia and Europe closed higher. It looks like I was wrong about the sell the news event regarding the debt ceiling drama. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

It wasn't exactly a big move in the Dow but the overall market was up better than the most watched index. The Dow gained 153 points on good volume. The advance/declines were better than 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is trying to turn back up before it crosses the zero line. I'm guessing it will be successful. The NASDAQ continues to lead the way. The debt ceiling bill made it through one house of Congress and it seems like a done deal. The employment report out tomorrow should provide the market with reasons to move one way or the other. The S&P 500 is still not completely short term overbought so it could move higher from here. Back above 4200 but it hasn't been what we'd call a broad based rally. I still don't have any SPY trades in mind for now. Gold was up $13 on the futures. The US dollar was lower and interest rates dipped slightly. The gold shares found buyers as the XAU gained 4 points, while GDX added 1 1/8. Volume was good to the upside for a second day in a row. The short term indicators for GDX have now turned up with room to move higher. The longer term up trend line for GDX is still in place. My GDX June calls have moved into the black. However this trade still has to be managed properly from here. Do I get out with the small profit now or hold on for more gains? There's still a couple of weeks left in the June option cycle. It does appear that we at least have some kind of bottom in place with the gold shares now. But that could all change tomorrow in this game. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX dropped and that fits todays price action. It appears that it has closed at a new low for the year. The low VIX is bullish for stocks and it is not completely short term oversold yet. It is oversold on a weekly basis though. Just a day left in the shortened trading week. Asia was mixed and Europe higher overnight. We'll see how the market reacts to the jobs report to close out the week tomorrow.

To the downside but it wasn't a rout as the Dow fell 134 points on heavy end of the month volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is moving lower. There was a gap lower at the open and then we spent the day moving sideways. We did get a signal from the McClellan oscillator yesterday for a big move within the next two sessions. We'll see if it shows up tomorrow. Waiting on the debt limit approval but that is probably already in the market. The Friday jobs report is the next potential market mover. Beginning of a new month tomorrow. Some of the short term indicators for the S&P 500 have rolled over. Not sure exactly what's next here so no SPY trades for now. The NASDAQ remains short term overbought. Gold was up $5 on the futures but came off of the highs for the day. The US dollar was slightly higher and interest rates had a drop. The XAU gained 1 7/8, while GDX was up about 3/4. Volume was good to the upside for a change. The short term indicators for GDX are trying to turn back up but remain oversold. My GDX June calls are still losers. I'm not sure if GDX is going to continue higher from here or just move sideways. There's still time for this trade to perhaps work out for a small gain but we'd have to see some upside follow through the rest of this week. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up slightly which fits with todays price action. The short term indicators here are now mid-range so things could go either way now with this indicator. Not sure what to expect. Europe and Asia were down overnight. We'll be keeping an eye on the headlines tonight to see if the debt package keeps moving along.

Pretty much a listless session on the return from the holiday weekend. The Dow fell 50 points on average volume. The advance/declines were slightly negative. The summation index is still moving lower. The debt limit deal is done and now needs to be voted on. Hopefully that will be done by the end of the week and we can move on from that distraction. The NASDAQ continues to lead the way here and that's a plus. However it has remained short term overbought for quite some time and it is getting pretty far away from its 50 day moving average. But that doesn't mean it can't keep going up. It will have to take a rest at some point though. The S&P 500 is not completely short term overbought but seems to be having trouble getting through the 4200 level. Tomorrow is another day. Gold was up over $30 on the futures. The US dollar was a bit lower and interest rates dropped. The XAU fell 1 1/8 and GDX lost over 1/8. Volume was average. A stellar day for gold and the gold shares lose value? That is not a good sign for the bulls as interest in owning the gold shaeres is lacking. My GDX June calls are solid losers and this trade will need to be completed sooner rather than later. Gold is holding on to its up trend line that has been in effect since November. GDX is also holding its longer term up trend line but todays price action was disappointing. If the gold shares can't get going on a thirty dollar rally in gold, when can they? Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today which fits with the overall market. Mid-range for the short term technicals here so it could go either way. Still well below the 20 level and that implies higher stock prices moving forward. End of the month tomorrow and we'll see what that brings. We did purchase the natural gas ETF BOIL again today for the next trade there. We'll hold until it gets short term overbought. Asia up and Europe down in last nights trade. We'll keep an eye on the overnight developments.

Heading higher now as the Dow gained 328 points on light volume. The advance/declines were better than 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is still moving lower which is puzzling considering the markets have been moving up. Not sure what that means but if the summation index can start heading back up we could see quite a rally. The zero line is still in view. The NASDAQ continues to be the leader and that's a plus. Another plus for the bulls was the fact that the inflation data came out a bit hot today and the market ignored it. Perhaps my idea of the market selling off on the debt limit deal is wrong. We'll know soon enough. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 are turning back up. It is back above the 4200 level. Maybe stocks are just going to run up into the June option expiration but we'll have to wait and see. No SPY trades in mind for now. Gold was up a few bucks on the futures. The US dollar finished flat and interest rates were mixed. The XAU and GDX had slight fractional gains on light volume. My GDX June calls are still losers and unless the gold shares get going to the upside next week I'm going to have to exit this trade with a loss. Haven't seen the bounce here that was expected given the technical data. A long weekend on tap to be holding onto this one. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was down today and is now below its 50 day moving average. The short term indicators here have turned back down. If the VIX continues lower, stocks should continue higher next week. Just waiting on Washington for now as the supposed June 1st deadline looms. Maybe they'll be an announcement over the holiday weekend. We'll go over the charts and try and come up with a game plan for next week. Europe closed higher and Asia as well with the exception of Hong Kong. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

Bouncing higher for the overall market but the Dow fell 35 points on average volume. The advance/declines were shy of 2 to 1 negative. The summation index continues down. Earnings from NVDA sparked a huge rally in tech stocks that drove both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 higher. The short term indicators for the S&P are turning back up. Not sure where we are going from here as the breadth hasn't been keeping up with the gains. However I would expect some kind of relief rally when the debt limit agreement comes to pass. Whether or not we trust that rally is another question. Gold fell $23 on the futures. The US dollar and interest rates continue to climb. The XAU lost 2 1/2, while GDX shed 2/3. Volume was about average. I did purchase some of the GDX June calls today. They are showing a small loss. Short term oversold on the gold shares and staying that way which could be dangerous for this trade. GDX is almost at 30 and close enough for me to put this trade on. We should at the least see some kind of boounce here for GDX. However if we break through the 30 level and stay there, this index is in more trouble than I thought. So we'll keep an eye on things and see where we go from here. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today which fits the overall market. Still below 20 but it is above its 50 day moving average. I'm still not sure where it's going from here. A long weekend coming up so some of the players could be missing tomorrow. We've got inflation data coming out and that could be an early market mover. Washington dealings remain on the table for now as well. So we'll see how we close out the week. Asia was mixed and Europe lower overnight. We'll see what tomorrow brings.