Up, down and all around as volatility ruled the day.  The Dow finished up 183 points on heavy volume.  The advance/declines were positive.  The small stocks were lower on the day though.  The summation index is still heading up.  Not sure what to make of todays action except that is almost impossible to trade off of it.  We were off almost 200 points early on and then bounced around before coming all the way back and then some.  Perhaps this morning was the chance to get some SPY February calls but it was impossible to know that at the time.  There is no clear technical signal at the moment.  Oil made a comeback and that market is gyrating out of control as well.  So the market atmosphere is turbulent to say the least.  Fridays jobs report should provide some more excitement.  GE was up 3/8 and the volume was average.  Still in a trading range here.  Gold found buyers as the futures here rose $15.  The US dollar got crushed today for its worst session in quite some time.  The XAU soared 3 3/4, while GDX gained over a point.  Volume was very heavy.  Oil and gold rose in tandem for a change.  Overbought for gold and the gold shares now.  Mentally I'm feeling a bit tired.  Trying to figure out exactly what is going on here is a headache.  Today could have been the day to buy the index calls but the short term technical indicators are still overbought.  I am still trying to remain patient and wait for a decent signal.  It seems the trading is becoming more compressed and is traveling at a speed that is not matching up with my techniques.  Or perhaps I am simply not up to the task at the moment.  The Dow was much stringer than the overall market today and that is not a plus.  Oil and currencies are bouncing around violently.  The environment is pretty tricky right here and now.  There is nothing wrong with heading to the sidelines until things sort themselves out.  We'll see how things go overnight and tomorrow as the markets set up for Fridays employment report.