A mixed bag to close out the week as the Dow gained 137 points on average volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is moving sideways. Both the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 posted small losses. The inflation data came in where expected. We were higher early in the morning and sold off for the rest of the day. The techncial condition of the S&P hasn't changed. Short term overbought and staying that way for now. I'm still in the camp of trying the SPY October puts at some point in this option cycle. Gold was off twenty bucks on the futures. The US dollar was a bit lower along with interest rates. The gold shares took a breather. The XAU fell 5 1/8, while GDX dropped 1 1/4. Volume was average. The weekly candlestick chart for GDX now has a bearish shooting star on it. Perhaps the gold shares will now take a much needed rest. But as always markets go where they want. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was higher today as the 200 day average seems to have held once again on the daily chart. Turning up from short term oversold on the indicators which implies higher VIX readings coming. That would not bode well for stocks. It also means that perhaps I've missed the best time to try the SPY October puts as well. But we'll wait and see what happens next week before coming to any conclusions about that idea. One day does not make a trend. I'll be checking the charts as usual over the weekend. Europe and Asia were higher with the exception of India to finish the week overseas. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.