Lower today as the Dow fell 53 points on light volume.  The advance/declines were positive.  The summation index is heading up.  I still expect some strength early this week and probably tomorrow will be the start.  The market did try to sell off the morning but we got a little near term oversold.  My October SPY puts are right where I bought them despite the recent lower prices.  As I've said, if the trade gets stopped out I will simply try it again.  The daily candlestick chart for the S&P 500 looks like a hammer, which implies higher prices coming tomorrow.  the short term technical indicators have rolled over but not decidedly so.  GE was up 1/4 on good volume and is now bucking the trend and showing good relative strength.  Perhaps the ideal time for the January calls here has passed by.  I'm still keeping an eye on it.  Gold rose $16 on the futures today despite a rise in the US dollar.  More geo-political tension over the weekend and a lower market are probably the cause.  The XAU added 1 1/3, while GDX was up 1/3.  Volume was average.  Mentally I'm feeling a little tired.  The Dow was off over 125 or so early in the session but made a decent comeback.  We should go higher in the near term is my view.  Perhaps after a small rally we'll begin to see the downside that I'm actually looking for.  There was a chance today to sell my position with a small profit but I'm preferring to wait.  There will be some economic data out this week but nothing major unless there is a big surprise in the numbers.  We'll get the end of the month as well.  Asia was mixed and Europe mostly lower overnight.  We'll keep an eye on what develops tonight.