Waiting on the Fed is what we'll call it as the Dow gained 90 points on light volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index continues higher. The Dow led the way which isn't the most bullish scenario. We've got upside targets that we're looking for in order to try the SPY August puts. This week will probably go a long way in telling us if the bottom is in for stocks or not. I'm still thinking that we'll head down again but nothing I've done lately has worked so we'll take that under advisement. The NASDAQ was lower today. Gold was off ten bucks on the futures today. The US dollar was lower and interest rates were higher. The XAU lost 2 3/8, while GDX dropped around 3/4. Volume was good. NEM reported earnings before the bell and got absolutely crushed. My GDX September calls got stopped out for a 35% loss. I have tried to trade GDX from the long side all the way down this extended decline for the gold shares. Extremely oversold for the gold indexes and they just keep on going down. Will I try this idea again in the near future? Maybe. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up slightly today. It remains short term oversold. If it gets to 22 I will be trying the SPY August puts. It is as simple as that. At this point the market is marking time before the Fedspeak on Wednesday. Rates will go up and then we'll hear what chairman Powell has to say and the market reaction to that. GDP on Thursday and then some inflation data on Friday. So it will not be a week of the summer doldrums to be sure. Plus after the week is done we'll have a better idea of where we're going I hope. So we will watch and wait for now. Europe was up with the exception of the DAX, while Asia was lower. We'll keep an eye on the overnight developments.