A mixed bag to end the month as the Dow rose 41 points on light volume.  The advance/declines were slightly positive.  The summation index is still moving sideways.  The overall market was weaker than the Dow, with the NASDAQ lower.  The market still appears to be figuring out what to do here as we remain stuck in the congestion zone.  Still below the 50 day moving average on most of the major stock indices.  Perhaps things will become clearer next week.  GE was up 1/8 on light volume.  Gold was off around $5 as the US dollar was higher.  The XAU and GDX had fractional gains on lighter volume.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  A long weekend ahead as summer unofficially ends.  Most players will return next week and we'll see where we go.  The VIX was higher today and we'll take our cues from there for now.  16 is the level to keep an eye on.  The short term technical indicators there remain mid range and it could go either way.  We are also still at the mercy of any US/China headline over the coming days.  I'm in an unusual position of being away from my desk starting the middle of next week.  The blog will be silent but I will try to find a computer for an update during my trip away.  However I will not usually have computer access.  That is keeping me on the sidelines here along with the non resolution of this one month trading zone.  Unless there is a really good signal one way or the other, I'll be waiting until my return for the next trade.  That goes for the gold shares as well.  I'll be checking the charts over the weekend as usual but nothing stands out to me at the moment.  There's three weeks left in the September option cycle, so there's plenty of time for a trade.  Next weeks economic data will be highlighted by Friday employment report.  Europe and Asia were higher to finish the month.  It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.