Heading lower today as the Dow fell 597 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index continues sideways in a congestion zone and in negative territory. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 along with the NASDAQ are rolling over. It's all about the headlines coming out of the Ukraine as the market is being held hostage at the moment. We've got the Fed chairman Powell speaking before Congress for the next two days but will it matter? Options premiums for the SPY are still elevated due to the volatility. The NADAQ is closer to breaking through its down trend line that began in the beginning of January. We'll keep an eye on that as that index has held up better lately. The S&P 500 indicators are still mid-range. My thinking is that peace will break out sooner rather than later and stocks will rally but I could be wrong. Gold soared on the haven effect and the gold futures were up almost fifty bucks. The US dollar was higher and interest rates continue to fall. Perhaps these markets know something that we don't. The XAU gained 6 1/2, while GDX soared 1 1/2. Volume was heavy. GDX is on the verge of breaking through a down trend line on a weekly basis that has been in effect since mid 2020. Money has been flocking to the gold shares in what seems to be a perfect storm there for the bulls. I still like the GDX calls but obviously I'm too late and too slow for this move. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX took off higher today and reached the 35 level before pulling back. Not sure what will happen next here. If the VIX continues higher we should see a rapid decline in stocks. If not perhaps we'll see that down trend line in the NASDAQ get breached to the upside and the bearish climate will change. It's a pretty fluid situation at the moment with the Ukraine wild card thrown into the mix. We've got the state of the Union speech tonight in the US but I don't think that will be a market mover either way. Asia was higher and Europe lower last night. We'll see what tomorrow brings.