The inflation data came in where expected but it was the earnings reports that drove the market today as the Dow rose 153 points on light volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. The summation index is still moving sideways. We had a gap up at the open and things moved higher from there. The NASDAQ was by far the leader today as it was up over 300 points. It appears that the recent deline has ended but the S&P 500 is still below its 50 day moving average. The short term indicators for the S&P are now mid-range. It is just below the down trend line that is now in place on the daily chart. Another day like today will get us through. Gold was up $8 on the futures. The US dollar was higher and interest rates dropped slightly. The XAU was up 1 1/2, while GDX added 1/4. Volume was average. I still am in favor of the GDX May calls if we see some pullback next week. The short term indicators here are north of mid-range. GDX is overbought on a longer term basis though. However it seems as though money continues to find a home in the gold shares and we cannot ignore that. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and that fits an up market. Still above both the 50 and 200 day moving averages. Getting below those levels would be a plus for the bulls and imply higher stock prices going forward. Three weeks to go in the May option cycle. We've got the end of the month next week along with a Fed meeting and the jobs report. Earnings are ongoing as well. So there will be plenty of excuses for the markets to move. We'll be going over all the charts as usual to try and come up with some sort of game plan. Europe and Asia finished higher with the exception of India. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.