It is a market that just doesn't want to go down. The Dow gained 76 points on average volume. The advance/declines were slightly negative. The summation index continues to rise. We opened with a huge gap lower on a hotter than expected jobs report. However buyers stepped up and we traded back and forth for the rest of the session. The S&P 500 along with the NASDAQ did finish in the red but came well off of their lows. The major indices remain short term overbought. I did place an order for the SPY August puts but canceled it. I guess that I will wait for the 4200 on the S&P 500 or just sit things out here. The Russell 2000 continues higher and has been the leader to the upside. Unless we see a change there the trend remains up. Gold fell $15 on the futures. The US dollar was higher along with interest rates. The XAU and GDX had slight fractional losses on lighter volume. The gold shares also had a gap lower at the open only to make a comeback for the rest of the day. My open order for the GDX September calls is still out there. Won't get filled at the price I'm willing to pay at this rate. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX continued its downward trend and is getting closer to the 20 level. It has been short term oversold for quite a while but trying to figure out when it will reverse is a guessing game. I'm still inclined to perhaps attempt the SPY August puts if the VIX hits 20 and the S&P is at 4200. Things rarely, if ever, fit your trading plans. There's still two weeks left in the August option cycle. At the rate the market is going it appears that maybe traders will just bid things higher into expiration Friday. We'll see. I'll go over the charts over the weekend and try to come up with something. Asia higher and Europe lower to finish the week. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.