A slight pause in the recent rally today as the Dow dipped 98 points on average volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 negative. The NASDAQ led the way lower but it certainly wasn't anything dramatic. We opened with a gap lower, turned around and made it all the way back only to drop again in the final hour and a half. The S&P 500 remains short term overbought but the nine day winning streak was snapped. My SPY May puts are still solid losers but I suppose I'll wait to see what happens with the Fed on Wednesday before taking the loss. Probably should have just dumped them on the drop this morning but hope springs eternal. Unfortunately hope is not a trading strategy. I can make a case for some weakness here but it probably won't be enough to save this trade. Gold jumped $100 today as geo-political tensions and bombings occurred over the weekend. The US dollar was lower and interest rates finished mixed. The XAU was up five points and GDX climbed 1 2/3. Volume was average. The short term indicators for GDX are starting to turn higher and the very short term down trend line has been broken. Could I have missed the call trade here again? We'll see. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up just a bit today and remains short term oversold. Not sure exactly what to expect here from the VIX. My guess is that tomorrow will be a waiting game on the Fed. Most of the foreign markets were closed for holiday but what was open finished mixed. I'll keep an eye on any overnight developments.