Stocks managed to move higher today as the Dow gained 108 points on light volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. The summation index continues lower. We opened with a gap to the upside, then dropped to fresh new lows only to come back for the rest of the day and end in the plus. The NASDAQ led the way. The S&P 500 managed to hold the 3975 level for now. Tomorrow should tell us a lot. If we manage to build on todays gains the market might have a chance to hold in here. However if the inflation data comes in hot and we fall, then we'll most likely be in a prolonged decline. The market is short term oversold but today could have been the expected bounce. So we'll see what happens tomorrow and go from there. Gold lost $11 on the futures. The US dollar finished little changed and interest rates were mildly lower. The XAU dropped 1 1/4, while GDX shed 1/8. Volume was light. GDX remaining oversold here and not even getting a bounce is worrisome for my GDX March call trade. It is now showing a loss. GDX doesn't even have a hint of short covering or wanting to move higher despite the extremely oversold condition. Not sure what to make of it but it isn't the usual activity that we would expect. We'll see what transpires tomorrow but this trade could just blow up. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and back within the Bollinger bands. Its short term indicators have now rolled over. However that doesn't give us the all clear signal as the VIX remains above the 20 level and above its 50 day moving average. Asia was lower and Europe higher with the exception of the FTSE overnight. We'll see how the markets respond to tomorrows inflation data.