Some upside today and that is to be expected.  The Dow gained 31 points on light volume.  The advance/declines were negative though.  We were higher and lower during the session in a bounce around kind of day.  Retail sales were not a real factor.  I still think we'll see higher prices this week in the next couple of days.  However the breadth has been very weak lately and the summation index is still heading lower.  I'd like to see one more run to new highs but the market will go where it wants.  GE was down a few cents and the volume remains light.  In the third week of a downside drift here.  No conviction for a trade in GE yet.  The gold futures fell $13 today on a stronger US dollar.  The XAU was off 2 1/2.  ABX, GG and NEM all had fractional losses on lighter volume.  Gold is finding resistance at $1350.  Or maybe we are just building a base.  Perhaps we are now going to head back down again.  Always plenty of questions.  The technicals are neither overbought or oversold, so anything is possible.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  The stock indexes continue to meander, as it's basically been a sideways affair since mid-July.  Tough trading in a summer environment.  I'm remaining patient for now.  The Bollinger bands have contracted as well, which is a precursor to an above average move.  Which way is always the question.  Inflation data out for the next couple of days.  Perhaps that data will move gold.  Volume has been better lately on the advances for the gold shares than the declines.  That should bode well for the bullish cause moving forward.  We'll see.  3 days left in the August option cycle.  We'll watch what transpires overnight and go from there.