Downside action today as the Dow fell 133 points on average volume.  The advance/declines were 3 to 1 negative.  We were getting short term overbought so some negative price movement is not a surprise.  Still waiting on Washington to announce some kind of deal.  We've seen this type of drama before and it gets old after having it happen so many times.  So a last minute deal will arrive this week and all will be saved.  Perhaps then we can get back to the market basics and trading will not be held hostage to the next headline out of Congress/The President.  Well we can hope.  GE off almost 1/4 and the volume was light.  Waiting on the Friday earnings report.  Gold saw a bit of a bid in the aftermarket but the futures were off 3 bucks.  The US dollar rose a bit.  Slight flight to safety action after no deal out of DC in my opinion.  The XAU managed to rise 2 points.  ABX and GG were up 1/2, while NEM rose 1/3.  Volume picked up to the upside.  My November ABX calls are still slightly in the red.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  It's still just a Washington waiting game for the stock indices.  Technically still a bit short term overbought.  3 days left for the October option cycle.  We will have to wait and see how the market reacts to whatever deal is coming from Congress.  It still could be a sell the news event but that is a guess as usual.  Gold remains off the trading and investment radar despite todays slight pick up.  Technically oversold here on the short term and have been for quite a while.  Medium term oversold on some indicators as well.  We'll see if there is any upside follow through tomorrow for the gold shares.  However the trend here has been lower and today doesn't change that.  So once again we'll be waiting for something out of Congress overnight as we keep an eye on foreign developments as well.  Maybe this will all be resolved by tomorrow.