We got the expected upside today as the Dow gained 147 points on light volume.  The advance/declines were positive.  The summation index is still moving down.  I'm not exactly sure of what to make of things here.  RUT was lower and it's usually a leader.  The breadth on this slight rise hasn't been good.  Volume is anemic.  I am leaning towards trying the SPY October puts.  The short term technical indicators for the major averages have turned back up but they aren't in the overbought zone just yet.  I suppose that I'll let Friday pass and figure out what to do over the weekend.  GE was up a dime and volume was a little better.  Gold was off a few bucks and the US dollar was slightly lower.  The XAU and GDX had fractional losses on average volume.  Mentally I'm feeling a bit tired, not sleeping well lately.  The inflation data was a bit less than expected but it didn't really affect the market.  Retail sales due out tomorrow.  We're at an interesting juncture here for the market and there is no clear cut case on which way things are going to go in my view.  The TRAN failed to follow through on its positive start to the week.  The small stocks are not exactly leading the way up here.  The VIX is back below its 50 day moving average.  Once again I'm not really a believer in this current move higher.  It certainly does not have the feel of the previous rallies.  However I will wait until next week to establish the next trade.  Asia rallied for a change but Europe was lower overnight.  We'll close out the week tomorrow.