Moving higher across the board today as the Dow gained 360 points on good volume. The advance/declines were even. The summation index continues to move up in a channel. The NASDAQ led the way higher and that's a plus. The S&P 500 had a decent gain and its short term indicators continue to move higher. Could we be on our way to new all time highs for the S&P 500? It's possible. Gold rose $7 on the futures. The US dollar finished unchanged and interest rates were barely higher. The XAU was up 1 1/2, while GDX added 1/2. Volume remains very light here. The short term indicators for GDX are beginning to track sideways. The near term down trend line here is now at 89. NEM reports earnings after the bell tomorrow. That could get GDX moving in either direction on Friday. My order for the GDX November calls remains unfilled. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and its short term indicators are moving down with room to go. The VIX seems to be giving the market a green light to move higher. As long as it continues on this path stocks should move up. However much of the week so far feels like it's in a holding pattern. Europe was higher and Asia lower with the exception of Japan. I'll keep an eye on tonights headlines.

Some early volatility but then it was sideways for the rest of the day. The Dow outperformed once again as it gained 529 points on good volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is traveling in a slightly upwards channel. The S&P 500 had a modest gain and the NASDAQ a very slight loss. The Dow in the lead is not the most bullish scenario. Some of the short term indicators for the S&P continue to trend higher. I'm not sure what's next here so no SPY option trades for now. Gold was off $19 on the futures. The US dollar was lower and interest rates were flat to lower. The XAU slipped 1 1/2, while GDX shed around 1/3. Volume is still pretty light here which shows no interest one way or another for the gold shares. Some of the short term indicators on GDX are pointing lower. My open order for the GDX November calls remains out there. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today which fits with an overall upside day for stocks. The short term indicators here are moving down with room to go. The VIX seems to imply that the market will be moving higher in the near term. The spike higher on Friday looks like a one day wonder at this point. Waiting on the next market catalyst to appear. Asia and Europe were lower overnight. We'll see how things go tomorrow.

Bouncing back for the overall market but the Dow fell 36 points on light volume. The advance/declines were shy of 2 to 1 negative. The summation index remains in a channel. The NASDAQ was up over 1% and that's a plus for the bulls. The S&P 500 gained over thirty points. Some of the short term indicators there have begun to turn back up. However it did close well off of the highs for the session. Gold dipped $19 on the futures. The US dollar was a bit higher as were interest rates. The XAU was off 3 1/2 and GDX fell around 1 1/4. Volume was very light. Some of the short term indicators for GDX are starting to turn lower. I still like the idea for the GDX November calls and my open order remains out there. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and its short term indicators have turned down. This is the indicator that I think bears close watching in the near term to determine what is going on here. After jumping above the twenty level on Friday it has now come back down. If it can stay below 20 the market should be OK. However if it rises above 20 again we will be in for more volatility. So it is something to keep an eye on. Plenty of earnings due out this week which could get things going in either direction. Asia was mixed and Europe lower to begin the trading week. We'll keep an eye on this evenings developments.

Back to selling on expiration Friday as the Dow fell 175 points on good volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is traveling in a slight upwards sloping channel. Once again the overall market was much weaker than the Dow. The NASDAQ fell over 2% and the S&P 500 over 1%. The short term indicators for the S&P have turned back lower with some steam. The daily candlestick chart has turned around with a bearish engulfing pattern. The short term up trend line here has now been violated. I'm not sure what is going on here but I'm back to advising some caution until we can figure things out for stocks. Gold was up $19 on the futures. The US dollar was lower and interest rates finished just a touch lower. The XAU was up 2 1/2, while GDX added 2/3. Volume was on the light side. The short term indicators for GDX are still trending higher. The gold shares did not follow the overall market lower. That is further evidence that the GDX November calls is probably the place to be. My open order for them remains out there but probably has to be adjusted in order to get filled. I'll be hoping for some sort of pullback in the gold shares early next week but hope is not a trading strategy. The down trend line in place for GDX now comes in at 90. The weekly indicators are stalling at the mid-range level and the irregular inverse head and shoulders pattern remains in place on the weekly chart. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX jumped today and closed at the 20 level after being above it during the session. Its short term indicators are moving up and are almost overbought. The VIX will have to be watched carefully here because if it starts getting above the 20 level the volatility will be greater along with the losses for stocks. Or perhaps todays sell off was option expiration related, in which case things could turn back up for the S&P going forward. Plenty of charts to go over this weekend as we try and plan what to do next. Not a lot of economic data due out next week. There's an extra week in the November option cycle so the premiums are pricey. Asia and Europe were higher to close the week. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

The Dow took off to the upside today as it gained 558 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were around 3 to 1 positive. The summation index is in a sideways channel. The inflation data came in higher than expected but after an early sell off buyers stepped in. The NASDAQ was pretty negative for much of the day but came all the way back for a slight gain. The S&P 500 posted a small gain. On a day where the economic numbers suggested a sell off, it didn't happen. This is what I mean when I say the market goes where it wants. You would expect interest rates and the US dollar to rise on the data but they did not. These were a couple of the products that I mentioned last week that their indicators got stretched too far in one direction and were bound to reverse at some point soon. We've reached that point. Things will probably support another rise for stocks going forward. The short term indicators for the S&P have now stalled after dropping yesterday. The daily candlestick chart here looks bullish and the S&P held its near term up trend line. Gold took off higher as well and the futures gained $89. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. The XAU climbed 13 points and GDX added 3 2/3. Volume was above average and GDX closed at its high for the session. My open order for the GDX November calls didn't get filled but I'm leaving it out there. Looks like we may have missed this trade again but we'll see what happens going forward. But some of the short term indicators for GDX have jumped higher so it looks like it could be the beginning of something sustained to the upside. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and some of its short term indicators have turned back down. The 200 day moving average here contained the recent rise. The daily candlestick chart looks like it wants to go lower. Expiration Friday on tap and anything goes at this point. The Fed chairman will be speaking at an IMF summit tomorrow so that may provide a reason for markets to move. Asia was lower with the exception of India and Europe continues to trend upwards. We'll close out the trading week tomorrow.

Lower from the start today but the Dow only lost 48 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 3 to 1 negative. The summation index is moving sideways. The inflation data came in a bit hotter than expected and most averages had a gap lower on the open. Both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 got clobbered. The NASDAQ was down over 500 points and the S&P lost over 1%. Stocks made a slight comeback in the final hour. The short term indicators on the S&P have turned down with room to go. More economic data due tomorrow including producer prices on inflation. I would expect some follow through selling but you never know. Gold took a hit as well with the futures off $53. The US dollar was higher and interest rates were flat to a bit lower. The XAU lost 16 1/2, while GDX shed around 3 3/4. Volume was good to the downside. The gold shares did come up off of their lows. The short term indicators for GDX are heading down and are getting to completely oversold. I adjusted my order for the GDX November calls to a closer in the money strike price. Still not filled yet and may have to adjust it again tomorrow. I'm feeling pretty sure that getting the calls here is the right idea despite my recent loss attempting this. We'll see. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up today as you would expect. The short term indicators here have shot higher and some are almost already overbought. Perhaps the VIX is implying that the decline will not last too long. Time will tell. Asia lower and Europe slightly higher overnight. I'll keep an eye on tonights headlines.

Hanging around today but the Dow fell 180 points on light volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is still trying to turn higher. We got a signal last night from the McClellan oscillator for a big move within the next two trading sessions. We'll see if that happens tomorrow. Probably will with whatever reaction we get to the inflation numbers. The NASDAQ posted a small loss today and the S&P 500 finished basically unchanged. The short term indicators for the S&P remain overbought. The concensus for the inflation data tomorrow is already pretty high so anything below that will most likely be viewed as a positive. But we have no idea where those numbers will be. No SPY option trades here with only three days left in the October cycle. Gold was off a couple bucks on the futures today. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. The XAU fell 6 1/4 and GDX dropped 1 1/4. Volume was light. Some of the short term indicators on GDX have turned back lower. I did place an open order for the GDX November calls in case we see a sell off tomorrow. Not back to short term oversold on the daily chart here yet but the order won't get filled unless we see additional selling. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX finished little changed on the session. Some of its short term indicators have turned lower. Still not sure what to expect next on the VIX. Although I will say that tomorrow could be an interesting day in the marketplace. Asia was a bit higher with the exception of Japan and Europe was barely lower. We'll see what tomorrow brings.