Just marking time here as we meander through the last week of the summer.  Doldrums to the max as the Dow fell 21 points on very light volume again.  The advance/declines were positive.  We dropped in the final hour again and that isn't bullish.  Seems like we're just waiting for Bernanke on Friday and when that's done we'll wait for the employment report the following Friday.  The players are still on vacation.  We'll have to be patient here.  GE was flat and the volume extremely light.  Nothing new to report here.  Gold fell a bit over $5 today on the futures despite a weaker US dollar.  That isn't bullish for the gold cause.  The XAU was off a touch.  Trying to get through the 170 level on the XAU to signal the next leg up.  ABX, GG and NEM had fractional moves one way or the other and of course the volume is very light.  My October ABX calls are still in the black.  We still need to get through the $38 level on good volume here to break through the resistance.  The gold shares remain overbought.  Mentally I'm feeling a bit tired, did not sleep well.  The economic data today was a non-event.  The environment remains one of no volume and lack of conviction.  I believe that will change in a week.  Until then it is simply a wait and see game.  I think gold is simply taking a rest here before we move higher but that is a guess as usual.  We'll try and remain patient for now.  More economic data out tomorrow and we'll keep an eye on Europe as well.