Trying to make up its mind as the Dow fell 96 points on good volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is trying to move higher. The NASDAQ led the way lower and that is not a plus. In normal times you could say today was just waiting on the jobs report tomorrow. But these are not normal times as we are in a headline risk mode because of the Russian invasion. The S&P 500 short term indicators are stuck at mid-range. The premiums on the SPY options are so high that it may not matter anyway. The volatility premium now built into the options is so high that it is cost prohibitive to attempt them. The NASDAQ was turned back at the down trend line on the daily chart. Can we bounce back tomorrow? We're at an important juncture there. Gold was up $15 on the futures. The US dollar was higher and interest rates were steady. The XAU gained 1 1/4, while GDX was up 1/4. Volume was average. GDX is sitting right at the down trend line on the weekly chart that goes back to 2020. It is overbought on both a short and medium term basis. In rallies, that doesn't matter. Money continues to pour into the gold shares. The option premiums here have jumped as well due to the unending interest in the precious metal. My thinking is that when there is a cease fire in the Ukraine gold will drop and then we'll take a look at the April calls there. But we cannot know for certain when that will occur. We do have inflation data due out next week and that could push GDX through the longer term down trend line and attract even more buyers. This is one move that should have been chased. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX finished pretty much flat today. Could go either way here as I'm not getting a good indication of what it is implying here. There's still plenty of time left in the March option cycle for a trade but those premiums are pricey. Perhaps tomorrow will give us a better idea of what's going on. Asia was mixed and Euope lower overnight. We'll close out the trading week tomorrow.