Inflation data came in where expected and it was pretty much a lackluster holiday trading session. The Dow lost 18 points on light volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is moving up. The overall market was stronger than the Dow with both the NASDAQ and S&P 500 posting gains. The S&P remains short term overbought. We are entering a long holiday weekend followed by the last week of the year. I would expect light trading next week and no major surprises. On the sidelines still with regards to teh SPY. Gold was up $13 on the futures. The dollar was a bit lower and interest rates remained steady. The XAU was up a point and GDX rose almost 1/4. Volume was average. The gold shares did drop from their best levels on the day. We will try and wait for some pullback here before attempting the GDX January calls. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and some of the short term indicators have rolled over. Not sure where it goes from here but the daily candlestick chart looks constructive for lower readings going forward. That would be a plus for stocks. We are also in the Santa Claus rally time period so higher stock prices from here would not be a surprise. We'll check the charts over the break and try and come up with a game plan for the new year. Europe and Asia were mixed to close out the week. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break. Merry Christmas everyone.