The Dow fell 410 points today on good volume. The advance/declines were around 3 to 1 negative. The summation index is now starting to roll over. Worry about a stimulus deal is the excuse for todays sell off. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 have turned down and are heading lower. They are mid-range at the moment. I certainly thought that by now we would have turned higher but my read on things here was wrong. I am now getting a buy signal from one of my technical indicators but with so much time left in the November options I'm not going to venture into the SPY calls. Premiums are high for the options. However if a stimulus deal is announced, you can expect quite a short term rally in my view. Conversely if a deal isn't reached, lower prices will ensue. GE was flat on the day and the volume was good. Gold was off a buck or so and the US dollar was lower. The XAU fell 2 3/4, while GDX lost 2/3. Volume remains very light. Once again the gold shares are leading the way lower and that's bearish for the precious metals complex. Nonetheless I'm keeping my open order out there for the Novermber GDX calls. If GDX continues to drop it should get filled. Not yet oversold on the short term for GDX but we're getting there. Mentally I'm feeling a bit tired. The VIX once again foreshadowed a drop in prices when rising with a rise in equity prices last week. The previous time it led to a quick decline that was not long lasting. It was higher today which fits in with a down market. Just about short term overbought on the indicators there. Combine that with a short term buy signal that I mentioned before and a case can be made for the SPY calls here. I'm not willing to take that chance though. But I would not be surprised if a stimulus deal is reached tomorrow and the market rallies. I would be surprised if some kind of deal isn't reached. We can simply wait and see. There is so much time left on the November options that there will be other opportunities down the road with lower option premiums. Asia was higher and Europe slightly lower to begin the trading week. We'll keep an eye on the overnight headlines.