We ended the week on a down note as the Dow lost 57 points on light volume. Advance/declines were negative. The overall market was stronger than the Dow. The weekly charts are looking bearish for the stock indices. That said, the daily charts show a potential bullish head and shoulders pattern here. The summation index is heading lower though. We are oversold as well. So there are some crosscurrents. I still want to get some September OEX puts. The summer light volume is hard to figure because we've had some volatility but no volume. So we'll see. Gold lost $6 today and the XAU 1 1/8. ABX, GG and NEM had fractional losses on light volume. The XAU sold off early and made somewhat of a comeback. The dollar had a good day so the inverse relationship to the precious metal is working again. We're still overbought on the gold shares. Perhaps I'll try the calls here but I'll have to ponder things over the weekend. Mentally I'm feeling OK. It's getting near the end of August and things should begin to pick up with regards to volume within a couple of weeks. Some data out next week with home sales early in the week and a GDP revision late in the week. I can't expect the home sales numbers to be strong but it may already be in the price of the market. I'll check the charts over the weekend and take it from there. It's a warm Friday afternoon in the summer. Time for a break.