The Dow took a hit today as the most watched index fell 269 points on light volume. The advance/declines were around 2 to 1 negative. The summation index is beginning to move sideways. The overall market did much better than the Dow, with the NASDAQ posting a small gain. Another new all time high there. I'm still interested in the SPY September puts but would need to see some upside before a purchase. It might be too late. Not a lot of economic data out this week but we do get inflation numbers on Friday. Running out of time in the September option cycle. Timing will have to spot on for an option trade to be successful. Gold dropped almost thirty bucks on the futures as the US dollar was higher and so were interest rates. The XAU fell 3 3/4, while GDX shed 7/8. Volume was average. Might try the GDX October calls if and when GDX gets short term oversold again. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX spiked up and closed above its 50 day moving average. The short term indicators here remain oversold. Todays move in the VIX could simply be a one day wonder but I'll be watching what happens from here. The October SPY puts have too much time premium built in them now to make a trade there. I really do think that the rally in stocks that began when the coronavirus started needs to take a break. We are in a seasonal time period to allow that to happen. Whether or not it does, we'll know in the coming weeks. Europe was lower and Asia higher last night. We'll see how things go tomorrow.