The Dow gained 5 points on lighter volume. Advance/declines were slightly positive. Considering we were down over 100 at one point, it wasn't too bad. But I'm not convinced this is going anywhere. That said I think we will see some strength within the first part of next week and Wednesday at the latest due to the beginning of the month factor. There was some trade tariff noise with China during the day. Gold was up a buck and a half today but the XAU was unchanged. ABX lost over 30 cents and that trade is going to be a loser. I probably should have just dumped it today and I did put in a limit order at the end of the day. It wasn't filled. I don't know why I'm still holding this except that it is oversold and we may get a bounce. With that, I'm gone. I'm just trying to salvage the smallest loss at this point. There are 3 weeks left but the indicators are rolling over. I'm hoping that a rise in the overall market next week will take the gold shares with it. However my prognosis of sideways activity seems to be the case. With that type of action it will be impossible to get any gains buying options. So I might have to sit it out for a bit and wait for a decent signal. Mentally I'm feeling OK, got a good nights sleep last night. However being stuck in a losing trade drains the mental capital. I really need to cut it loose and get going with something else. I have no ideas on the horizon though. Much of the data today came out stronger than expected. The dollar was weaker. Mixed signals really. I'll check the charts over the weekend and get ready to go on Monday.