Back to the upside to close out the week as the Dow gained 76 points on light volume.  The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive.  Trying to hold the 50 day moving average for the S&P 500.  Economic data is scarce with the US government shutdown.  We're still technically oversold for the major stock indices, not so much so for the small caps.  Waiting for the budget resolution and then we'll focus on the debt ceiling.  That's the conventional wisdom for now.  So it will probably not work out that way.  Earnings season is starting next week as well.  So it looks like there's plenty of catalysts coming near term.  More volatility down the road for October?  GE was off a few cents on average volume.  Still now trades in mind for GE at the moment.  Gold fell 7 bucks on the futures as the US dollar had a good day for a change.  The XAU was off a fraction.  ABX, GG and NEM all had fractional losses on light volume.  The gold shares remain oversold and staying there.  Not much interest there despite the overall turmoil.  I'm still thinking about the November ABX calls.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  The stock market remains held hostage by Washington.  However sooner or later this will get resolved.  I'd expect some type of rally once that occurs.  After that, who knows?  The summation index may trend sideways after todays action.  Gold remains unloved.  The gold shares are at their recent lows with respect to GDX and HUI.  I'll probably try the calls again at some point before the end of the year.  Booking yet another loss this week was not a step in the right direction.  My trading this year had been awful with just the final quarter of the year left.  Perhaps it's time to simply hit the sidelines and wait until next year.  I'll think about that over the weekend.  Plenty of charts to check as usual and keeping an eye on the news is paramount due to the Washington morass.  For now it's Friday afternoon and time for a break.