The markets closed early today in a holiday shortened session.  The Dow fell 51 points in a very thinly traded, light volume affair.  The advance/declines were negative.  It doesn't look like there will be any buyers until we get something positive out of Washington.  There will be some kind of tax deal sooner or later.  We'll watch for what the markets do after that for a better idea of where we're headed.  GE was off a touch on very light volume.  No trades there for now.  Gold and the US dollar were basically flat on the day.  The XAU was up 1/3.  ABX and GG had fractional gains, while NEM had a fractional loss.  The gold shares remain oversold.  I think we could see a decent rally there at any time.  However I have tried the gold share calls a few times lately and they simply have remained oversold.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  The market remains hostage to the situation in Washington.  This will resolve itself eventually and probably pretty soon.  Until then the stock indices should be on hold or move lower.  Gold is trying to hold at its 200 day moving average.  We'll have tomorrow off and then back to it on Wednesday.  It should be a very light volume holiday week for the markets.