The Dow took off to the upside today but pared its gains in the final hour. We closed the day higher by 146 points but we were up over 300. The advance/declines were almost 5 to 1 positive and volume was average. This should turn the summation index back to the upside. I placed an order for some OEX puts but it wasn't filled. I'm leaving it in overnight but I may be too late again already. No real news for the rally in the stock indices, just the hope that Europe ends up OK. Not overbought or oversold here on a short term basis. I'm a believer that puts should be owned at some point before the employment report next week. I could be wrong. GE was up about 1/4 on light volume. It too was higher earlier in the day. I'll keep an eye on GE as a proxy for the overall market. It has been a precursor of sorts lately. Gold bounced back today, the futures gained over $50. The US dollar had a weak day. The XAU was only up 1/4 after being much higher early in the day. ABX was up 1/4, GG was flat and NEM lost 7/8. Volume was light here. I think it is too early for a sustained up move in the gold shares here. That said, I would still like to own some November calls eventually. If the overall market falls as I expect, the gold shares should drop and that would be an entry point for the calls. Wishful thinking perhaps. Mentally I'm feeling OK, slept well. So we had a huge move to the upside in the stock indices and couldn't hold on. My order is in for some OEX puts but it may not get filled. The daily candlestick charts don't look positive for the stock indices with todays move. But that could all change tomorrow. End of the month on Friday. We'll see what happens overnight in Europe and go from there.