We opened lower, climbed back to be higher and then closed about unchanged as the Dow gained 9 points on light volume. Advance/declines were positive. Still more oversold than overbought but the market has a listless tone to it. I still have an open order in for the September OEX puts. I adjusted the price down a touch in case we get a breakout above 1100 on the S&P 500. But it could be that we've seen whatever bounce there is and go lower from here. I don't know. The volume has been so light this summer that it's really hard to say exactly what is going on. Gold was up 3 bucks today and the gold shares continue to shine. The XAU rose 3 1/2. ABX and NEM were higher by around a buck, while GG led the way up 1 3/4. Volume was better than it has been but still very weak. The dollar didn't do much today. Are we headed for a new high in gold? Overbought and staying there for now. Money is heading into the gold shares for whatever reason. Another missed opportunity. Mentally I'm doing OK. August is a little over halfway through. The plan for now remains to purchase some September OEX puts. We do have to get through the next 2 weeks of summer slowdown though. I expect things will not return to what is considered normal until after Labor day. Perhaps waiting until then for the next trade is the proper strategy. We'll see.