We ended July on a positive note as the Dow rose 144 points on good volume.  The advance/declines were negative.  The summation index is trending sideways.  Once again the overall market was stronger than the Dow with the NASDAQ leading the way.  The market opened higher, then sold off rapidly to spend much of the day in negative territory.  The final hour saw buyers step up to the plate in a big way to turn the day positive.  It looks like the market wants to higher although still overbought.  I am still looking at the SPY August calls though.  I'll see how I feel after looking at things this weekend.  GE continued lower on heavy volume.  Another 20 cents down.  Oversold here but if it breaks $5.50 I'd say that this stock would be in trouble.  Gold continues to shine as the August futures gained twenty five bucks despite a rise in the US dollar.  The XAU was up 4 1/4, while GDX added 1 1/3.  Volume was light.  Perhaps yesterday was the opportunity to purchase the August calls here as any selling is still being met by buyers.  The option premiums remain elevated and that has me waiting for now.  But the up trend here is pretty strong and you cannot deny that.  Mentally I'm feeling OK.  The VIX bounced around today and remains oversold.  The daily chart has the look of something that wants to go lower.  The Bollinger bands on the S&P 500 continue to contract and on the daily chart here it looks like an impending breakout to the upside will occur.  I know that sounds a little crazy with the ugly economy and the ever present pandemic virus but that's what it looks like.  I still have an order out for the August SRNE calls but that stock keeps going up.  It doesn't appear that the order will get filled.  It will take some decline for that to happen.  I will check the exact date for the earnings announcement and FDA result because I do not want the order out there if it isn't filled when that date happens.  Otherwise I'll be trying to come up with something over the weekend when I'm checking all the charts.  Three weeks to go in the August option cycle and that's plenty of time for profits.  The S&P looks like it is about to break to post crash highs, while gold continues its rally unabated.  Europe and Asia were lower to close out the week overseas.  It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.