Not exactly the upside follow through we were looking for as the Dow rose 5 points on light volume.  The advance/declines were negative.  The overall market was weaker than the Dow.  The short term technical indicators are mid-range for the S&P 500.  I am looking at the August SPY calls for a trade of expiration week.  But it will be extremely risky with only 6 days to go in this months option cycle.  Perhaps the sidelines would be the more prudent route to go.  I'll consider things overnight.  GE was off a few cents on very light volume.  Still holding the 200 day moving average.  Gold was lower today as the futures lost around ten bucks.  The US dollar was flat on the session.  The gold shares took a hit.  The XAU fell 2 3/4, while GDX lost 7/8.  Volume was heavy here.  Some negative action is expected for the gold shares now since we are short term overbought.  We'll see if it can be contained.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  After yesterdays stellar comeback, we didn't see much upside follow through today.  That isn't exactly bullish.  Retail sales came in where expected and wasn't the market mover that I thought it would be.  More economic data out tomorrow including inflation but I don't think it will amount to much.  I could be wrong.  So on we go.  August isn't the most positive month for stocks but I am still looking at a short term call trade.  We'll see how things go tomorrow.  Gold had a bounce and it will be interesting to see where we go from here.  ABX was off 1/3 on good volume today.  Waiting on how the week closes there.  The medium term technicals there are still oversold so there is room to the upside if we can get things moving that way.  Remains to be seen.  We'll watch the overnight action and finish the week tomorrow.