Continuing higher as the Dow gained 275 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is moving higher. The Dow led things to the upside to close out the month of June. We got a signal from the McClellan oscillator on Friday for a big move within the next two sessions and today takes care of that. The S&P 500 continues to travel above its upper Bollinger band and remains short term overbought. There is no overhead resistance. I'm not sure how much longer this goes on but I did place an order for some SPY July puts overnight. We do have a short term sell signal from one of our indicators but sometimes it remains in place for more than a day. It will take some more rally to get the put order filled so I am comfortable leaving it out there. We are still at the mercy of the next headline and we've got the jobs report on Thursday. It is also a short trading week in the US. Gold was up $32 on the futures. The US dollar continues to fall and interest rates were lower. The XAU was up 4 3/4, while GDX added 1 1/3. Volume was just about average. The short term indicators for GDX are turning up. It is possible that the decline for the gold shares is over. The Bollinger bands on the XAU are about as tight as they can get. Something big is probably about to occur in the gold shares. Which way is the question. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up today and that does not fit with an up market. The last time this happened it led to some selling. The VIX is short term oversold but in rallies it tends to stay that way. Beginning of a new month tomorrow and we should see some positive money flows but we'll see. Asia continues to be mixed and Europe closed lower to begin the week. We'll see how things go tomorrow.

An interesting day to say the least as stocks stormed higher out of the gate, gave it all back and then some only to rally on in the final hour to new all time highs in the NASDAQ and S&P 500. The Dow gained 432 points on extremely heavy volume. The advance/declines were slightly positive. The summation index is trying to move higher. The inflation data came in about where expected. The S&P is still climbing above its upper Bollinger band and the short term indicators are overbought. There is no overhead resistance. I will probably try the SPY July puts at some point next week. The question is when and where? Half a day trading on Thursday and a long holiday weekend coming up. Employment data will be released on Thursday. Monday is the end of the month and quarter. Not sure what kind of position squaring that we'll see there. All signs seem to point to higher prices going forward but as we saw today things can turn on a dime. Gold got clobbered as the futures fell $65. The US dollar was up a little as were interest rates. The XAU lost 7 1/2 and GDX shed 1 7/8. Volume was good to the downside. GDX is now at its 50 day moving average. The up trend line in place that began in January comes in just above 48. GDX is getting to short term oversold but is not there yet. The problem we now have here is that gold itself has now broken down through that same up trend line that started in January. Will the gold shares follow? This is something that we have to consider over the weekend. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and is now short term oversold. It can stay that way for a while during rallies which is where we find ourselves at the moment. Not sure what's next for the VIX. Plenty to do this weekend as we try and figure out the next trade. I'll be going over the charts as usual. Asia was mixed and Europe higher to close out the week. It's Friday afternoon and time for a rest.

Pushing up to the cusp of new all time highs for some of the major stock indices as the Dow gained 404 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 4 to 1 positive. The summation index is trying to move back up. Price and volume continue to confirm that the rally has legs. The S&P 500 is now above its upper Bollinger band. The potential negative RSI divergence on the daily chart has been negated after todays price action. The 50 day moving average is about to cross above the 200 day for the S&P. It appears that all signs point to higher prices in the near term. A decent inflation report tomorrow will most likely result in new closing highs for the S&P 500 along with the NASDAQ. My SPY put idea will have to be put on hold. Gold finished the session flat. The US dollar continues to drop along with interest rates. The XAU was up 4 3/8 and GDX was up 5/8. Volume was light. The gold shares outperforming gold is a plus. Some of the short term indicators for GDX are strating to turn back up. The Bollinger bands on the GDX daily chart are beginning to converge. Could be that I've missed the chance for the July calls here but GDX did not get all the way to short term oversold. We'll see where it goes from here. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today but did finish up from the lows. Short term oversold here now but not completely. The VIX can stay oversold during rallies and that is probably what will happen this time around. Another positive day for stocks tomorrow will trigger a sell signal on one of our short term indicators. However at this stage I will probably let tomorrow pass on by and consider what kind of trade I want to put on at some point next week. Asia was mixed and Europe generally higher overnight. We'll close out the week tomorrow.

Todays price action can best be described as digesting the previous two days worth of gains as the Dow fell 106 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 negative. This should have the summation index tracking sideways again. The NASDAQ posted a gain while the S&P 500 ended the day flat. The S&P is hugging its upper Bollinger band. Some of its short term indicators are now overbought. If the market stays up into the close on Friday I may try the SPY July puts before the weekend. It would be risky for sure as it looks like the major stock indices are heading to new all time highs. There is another potential negative divergence on the daily RSI indicator for the S&P. This signal did not work out on the previous example but that doesn't mean it won't this time around. Or not. We'll see how things go before Fridays close and take it from there. Gold was up $15 on the futures. The US dollar continues to drop and interest rates finished flat. The XAU Was up 1/8, while GDX ended the day basically unchanged. Volume was light. The short term indicators for GDX are now moving sideways and they haven't made it to oversold territory. If GDX makes it down to 50 we'd think about getting some calls there. The longer term up trend line that began at the start of the year comes in at 48. A move down to that level would certainly have us trying the calls. Mentally I'm feeling a bit tired. The VIX was lower today in a mixed market. Not yet completely oversold on the short term indicators here. I don't have a good idea now for what's next on the VIX. Asia up and Europe down overnight. I'll keep an eye on this evenings headlines.

Stocks continued to jump higher today as the Dow gained 507 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were around 3 to 1 positive. The summation index is now moving up. The Middle East ceasefire has already been violated but the market doesn't care. The NASDAQ led the way up and that's a plus. Some of the stock indexes are just about at new all time highs. QQQ made it there. Another day like today will do it. The S&P 500 is up against its upper Bollinger band. The short term indicators here have turned higher and are not yet overbought. At this rate a new all time high should be put in sometime this week. We've got the Fed chairman on capital hill tomorrow which might provide a pause in the rally. Inflation data on Friday should be benign. Gold dropped $57 on the futures as peace in the Middle East does not support gold. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates again. The XAU fell 4 points and GDX shed 1 1/4. Volume was average. The gold shares did finished up off of their worst levels on the day. So there is still some interest in owning the gold shares. The short term indicators here are back to moving lower but are not yet in oversold territory. If and when GDX gets to oversold we will have to make a decision on whether or not to try the calls there. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and the short term indicators are heading lower. Not short term oversold just yet. The VIX still seems to imply that it is all clear for higher stock prices in the near future. We'll see. It has been quite a rally to begin the week as the bulls are in charge. Can they keep it up? Asia and Europe were both higher as buyers around the globe stepped up. We'll see how things go tomorrow.

Plenty of volatility today after the US bombed Iran over the weekend. There was movement in both directions before stocks made up their mind and went higher. The Dow gained 374 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. This should turn the summation index sideways. We got a signal on Friday from the McClellan oscillator for a big move with the next two sessions and we got that move today. All the major indiecs moved higher. The S&P 500 was up over fifty points. The short term indicators here have turned back up. Perhaps the S&P is finally ready to break out of its sideways range. Gold was only up $6 on the futures. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. I would have thought that gold would be much higher today but that didn't happen. The XAU was up 2 7/8, while GDX added 3/4. Volume was average. Some of the short term indicators for GDX have turned back up at about the mid-range level. I would like to see GDX get completely oversold before trying the calls here but the market may not cooperate. Plenty of time in the July option cycle. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today as it came back down after reaching its 50 day moving average. Its short term indicators have turned back down. If that continues we'll see a lower VIX and higher stock prices. I'm not sure exactly what we'll see next for the VIX because of the geo-political turmoil and the current headline risk. We don't have a clear technical signal for the SPY options at the moment either. I'll have to watch and wait for the time being. Europe was lower and Asia mixed to start off the trading week overseas. We'll keep an eye on the overnight developments.

We had a one day downside reversal for most markets today as they opened higher and closed lower. The Dow however managed to score a gain of 35 points on expiration very heavy volume. The advance/declines were about even. The summation index is trending lower. The NASDAQ led the way lower and that is not a positive sign. Markets are still at the mercy of geo-politcal concerns and the next headline. Tariffs have taken a back seat but they still remain. The short term technical indicators for the S&P 500 are heading lower but price has been in a sideways range so far. No progress in either direction for over a month now. Not the best environment for trading options. We are rolling into the July option cycle. Gold dipped $27 on the futures. The US dollar was shighty lower as were interest rates. The XAU fell 2 1/3 and GDX lost 2/3. Volume was slightly below average. The short term indicators for GDX are heading down with room to go. Will I finally buy the GDX calls if it gets to short term oversold this time? The 50 day moving average lies at 50 and an up trend line from the beginning of the year comes in at 48. One caveat is that the events around the world have been a positive for gold this past week and it did not rally. That could be a problem for the gold bulls going forward. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up slightly today and that fits with an overall down market. Some of the short term indicators here are overbought but not completely. On the weekly VIX chart the 50 day moving average is about to cross up through the 200 day. If that happens it would be bullish for higher VIX prices and bearish for stocks going forward. Not sure what to expect next from the VIX. The July option cycle is a day and half short due to the July 4th holiday. I'm still leaning towards the SPY puts but will be checking all the charts over the weekend as usual. Asia was mixed and Europe generally higher to close out the week. It's Friday afternon and time for a break.

Another day goes by in a sideways market as the Dow fell 44 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is trending lower. The NASDAQ posted a small gain and the S&P 500 was off a point or so. The Fed left rates unchanged as expected and we got the usual market gyrations after that. The short term indicators for the S&P have turned lower and are now sideways on the daily chart. Things could still break either way here. All we have left is expiration Friday as the US markets are closed tomorrow. Gold was down $23 on the futures. The US dollar was slightly higher and interest rates finished flat. The XAU was off 1 /2, while GDX shed almost 1/2. Volume was light. The short term indicators for GDX have turned lower. My idea for the GDX June calls this week was wrong as chasing the gold shares higher after the attack on Iran would have failed. I was lucky none of my orders for the calls were filled. That said I was still considering getting some of the GDX calls near the close today with only a day to go in the option cycle. It would have had two days of news to digest for the price of one. But we try and stick to the technicals here and I will simply roll into the July option cycle. Hopefully we will see some kind of decent signal soon. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and the short term indicators here have turned lower. This implies lower VIX readings and higher stock prices. However I'm not sure where the VIX goes from here. The market is still at the mercy of the next news event for now. Asia and Europe were mixed ovvernight. We'll take tomorrow off and see how things go on Friday.

The market is trying to make up its mind here as sellers took over again. The Dow fell 299 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 negative. The summation index is drifting lower. The NASDAQ led the way lower. It has been back and forth for just over a week now. We should know soon whether we are going to challenge the old highs or start to move lower. Retail sales were a bit weak this morning. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 have rolled over but haven't even made it to the mid-range level. Perhaps the market reaction to the Fed will provide us with some clues. Only two days left in the June option cycle with a rare Thursday holiday this week. I won't be trying any SPY optons trades here. Gold was off $15 on the futures. The US dollar was higher and interest rates were lower. The XAU was lower by a half and GDX finished basically unchanged. Volume was light. The gold shares have held up well so far this week despite the drop in gold. Silver broke out to a new recent high today. I am trying my best not to buy the GDX June calls here with only two trading days to go in the week. GDX remains short term overbought but the world is in such a precarious postion at the moment that I believe that gold could burst higher at any time. However the prudent thing to do would be to stay on the sidelines and wait for a clear techncial signal one way or the other. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was back up today and that fits a down market. Back over the 20 level and touching the upper Bollinger band again on the daily chart. The short term indicators are getting to the overbought region. The VIX is still below its 50 day moving average though. I don't know what's coming next for this indicator although I could possitbly make a case for it continuing higher for another day. We've got the Fed meeting tomorrow with rates expected to remain where they are. Geo-politcal worries remain in the forefront. Europe and Asia finished lower with the exception of Japan. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Back to the upside to begin a holiday shortened week as the Dow gained 317 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were positive. This should put the summation index back into sideways mode. The NASDAQ led the way higher and that's a plus. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 have turned back up and are still overbought. The troubles in the Middle East have been put aside by the market for now. Only three days left in the June option cycle with a Fed meeting on tap. Retail sales data tomorrow. Probably too risky to try a SPY option trade here but you never know. We really don't have a clear signal either way. Sometimes the sidelines are where you have to stay. Gold dropped $48 on the futures. The US dollar finished flat and interest rates ticked up. The XAU fell 1 1/2, while GDX was off 7/8. Volume was a bit below average. The short term indicators for GDX are trying to roll over as they remain in overbought territory. I'm still looking at the June calls here though as there is an up trend line that comes in just below 53 on GDX. A move to that level will have me thinking about making a trade there even though there is hardly any time left in the June option cycle. My belief is that the gold shares are not about to fall apart here with all the trouble going on in the world right now. I could be wrong. This would be a highly risky trade as well since those options are running out of time. Not to mention that the Fed is in no hurry to cut rates which would be a plus for gold. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX moved lower today and is back below the 20 level. Some of the short term indicators have turned down but the rest remain at mid-range. Not sure what's next for the VIX but continuing lower on it would not be a surprise. Europe and Asia were higher to start the week as the recent geo-political tensions have seemed to fade pretty fast. I did not expect that. We'll keep an eye on the overnight developmnets.

Sellers took over today as Middle East geo-political tensions erupted overnight. The Dow fell 769 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 4 to 1 negative. This should turn the summation index back down. We got a signal from the McClellan oscillator last night for a big move within the next two sessions and we saw that move today. The Dow led the way down. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 have now rolled over with plenty of room to go. We are back to an event driven market. There's only 4 days left in the June option cycle so it looks like we won't be making any SPY option trades soon. Gold was up another fifty bucks today. The US dollar was higher and so were interest rates. We saw gold up big yesterday for no apparent reason and the reason became clear overnight. Once again markets know things that we don't. Today the XAU rose 3 1/8, while GDX added 7/8. Volume was average. Once I saw what happened I made the decision to try and chase this move in gold. I placed an overnight order for the GDX June calls but it wasn't filled. I adjusted the order twice during todays session but it wasn't hit. I might try again on Monday depending on what goes on this weekend. GDX is close to short term overbought but with the current environment gold should continue higher. GDX did break out to a new recent high today. However the volume wasn't heavy and it is pretty far from its 50 day moving average. I really wanted to own the calls before the weekend but it didn't happen. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX jumped up today and closed above the 20 level. Some of the short term indicators have already made it up past mid-range. The VIX is now at the top of the tight Bollinger bands which correctly forecast some type of big move coming. I would expect to see some more selling next week as whatever is happening in the Middle East will not be solved over one weekend. I'll be going over the charts to see if there is a trade that makes sense in the holiday shortened week ahead that includes a Fed meeting. Asia and Europe sold off to end the week as the risk off mindset took over. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

Just another day of hanging around as the Dow added 101 points on good volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is still trending higher. The inflation data came in mild again. The S&P 500 led things higher today and that isn't the most bullish scenario. The S&P remains short term overbought and close to hugging its upper Bollinger band. Our next trading idea involves the SPY June puts next week for a very risky short term trade if things line up ahead of it. We've got the Fed next week as the main event but there's holiday on Thursday that compromises things. If we manage to drift higher going into the Fed announcement we might try the puts with only a day left. Otherwise it looks like we may have to remain on the sidelines with regards to the SPY options for now. Gold jumped $65 on the futures. The US dollar was lower again along with interest rates. The XAU gained 4 1/2 and GDX was up 1 1/2. Volume was above average. The short term indicators have turned up from the mid-range level and it appears that the gold shares are now headed higher. We can't beat ourselves up for missing this move as the gold indices never got to short term oversold. GDX is also getting to the point of medium term overbought as well so I'm not sure how much near term upside remains. Mentally I'm feeling tired. The VIX was higher today which doesn't fit with an up market. Still short term oversold here but the indicators are trying to turn back up. Not sure what's next for the VIX. However I would not be surprised if the VIX turned lower and stocks continued their ascent to new all time highs. Europe and Asia were mostly lower overnight. We'll close out the trading week tomorrow.

We had a one day downside reversal as stocks opened higher and closed lower. The Dow only lost a point on heavy volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is still moving up. The NASDAQ led the way lower and that's a negative. The inflation data was mild. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 are still overbought. The negative RSI divergence remains intact after todays price action. Today may have been the time to purchase the SPY June puts but we'll have to see where things go from here. We wanted to see strength going into tomorrow for a decent short term sell signal but the market did not cooperate. Might have to stay on the sidelines but we'll see. Gold was up $25 on the futures. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. The XAU was up 1 1/8 and GDX rose 3/8. Volume was light. The short term indicators for GDX are trying to turn back up at the mid-range level. Volume has slowed down this week so far for the gold shares. Mentally I'm feeling a bit tired. The VIX was a bit higher today which fits with an overall down market. Remaining short term oversold as it has been. More inflation data out tomorrow. The US/China trade talks yielded nothing substantial. I'm still considering whether or not the S&P will reach a new all time high before option expiration Friday. If so we can forget about trying the SPY puts. Never an easy trade in this game. Asia higher and Europe generally lower overnight. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Continuing higher as the Dow rose 105 points on good volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is moving up. Another up and down session with whatever selling that occurred quickly replaced with buying. The NASDAQ continues to lead the way. The S&P 500 remains short term overbought and up against the upper Bollinger band on the daily chart. One more positive session will negate the potential negative RSI divergence. Inflation data due tomorrow. Still waitng on the results of the US/China trade talks. New all time highs could be in the picture at some point ahead of option expiration. However if we remain to the plus side heading into Thursday I'll be considering the SPY June puts for a short term trade. Gold was off five bucks on the futures. The US dollar was slightly higher and interest rates finished flat. The XAU lost 3 1/4, while GDX shed 3/4. Volume was light. The short term indicators for GDX are back to moving lower and are at the mid-range level. There is a short term up trend line for GDX at 48 and a longer term one at 46. These will be levels that we'll keep in mind if GDX gets oversold in the near term. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today and remains short term oversold. Not sure how long it will stay oversold but it's usually longer than you think. The contracting Bollinger band lines imply that something is brewing. However there is no signal for when that will take place. With the VIX already oversold the logical assumption will be that it will move higher and stocks lower at some point. This is something that I am trying to determine. Europe was mixed and Asia generally lower with the exception of Japan overnight. We'll see how the market reacts to the CPI tomorrow.

This is a market that is just hanging around today as the Dow lost a point on good volume. The advance/declines were positive. The summation index is trying to move up. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 posted small gains. The S&P 500 remains short term overbought. The Bollinger bands here have now contracted and the S&P is up against the upper band. Something has to give here. The negative RSI divergence on the daily chart persists. We've got inflation data out on Wednesday and Thursday. That should provide some excuses for movement. I would like to try the SPY June puts with less than 2 weeks left in the option cycle but the entry timing would have to be spot on. Gold finished flat on teh session. The US dollar was a bit lower as were interest rates. The XAU was up 1 7/8 and GDX added 1/2. Volume was light. There still seems to be interest in owning the gold shares. The short term indicators on GDX are beginning to stall after they recently rolled over. Not sure where it goes from here. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was up today which doesn't fit with the majority of stocks higher on the day. Remaining short term oversold here. The question here is do I want to try the SPY puts ahead of the inflation data? Something to ponder overnight. Asia up and Europe down to begin the week. Still waiting on the outcome of the US/China trade talks that began today. We'll keep an eye on the overnight developments.

Markets took off to the upside after a better than expected jobs report as the Dow gained 443 points on average volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. This will move the summation index back up. The NASDAQ was the leader and that's a positive for the bulls. There was a gap higher at the open and stocks moved sideways from there for the rest of the session. The S&P 500 made it past 6000 today and closed at that level. New all time highs on the horizon? We'll see. The S&P remains short term overbought and that potential negative RSI divergence on the daily chart is still in place for now. I did place another order for the SPY June puts overnight but canceled it this morning before it got filled. The short term sell signal that we got was extremely short term. It only lasted for yesterday. We are going to have to look things over this weekend to decide on a plan for next week. Gold dropped $40 on the futures. The US dollar was higher along with interest rates. The XAU fell 4 1/2 and GDX was off 1 1/2. Volume was good to the downside. The short term indicators for GDX have started to roll over. No GDX trade for now. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today after it looked like it wanted to start to go higher yesterday. It is now at its lowest level in the past 3 months. It also remains short term oversold. Well below the 20 level and it now seems as though the VIX is implying that the rally will live on. We've got inflation on tap next week along with a US/China trade meeting on Monday. So there will be excuses for the markets to move. I'll go over the charts this weekend to try and figure out the next move. Asia and Europe were generally higher to complete the week. It's Friday afternoon and time for a break.

Some selling today ahead of tomorrows jobs report as the Dow fell 108 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were even. The summation index is tracking sideways. The NASDAQ led the way lower and that's a negative. I did place an order for the SPY June puts overnight but it was not filled. Today was a volatile session moving up and down throughout the day. I probably should have adjusted the order for it to get filled but I did not. Too late for this trade now unless we see some buying early tomorrow morning. It was to be a short term trade, getting out on Monday at the latest. But we probably missed it. The short term indicators for the S&P 500 are now trying to roll over. The potential negative RSI divergence on the daily chart remains intact. I suppose we'll see what happens tomorrow morning and go from there. Gold lost $18 on the futures. The US dollar finished unchanged and interest rates were a bit higher. The XAU was up almost 3 points while GDX finished basically flat. Volume was good for the gold shares. GDX remains short term overbought. No GDX trades for now. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was higher today which fits with a down market. The short term indicators here are starting to turn up but it remains oversold. The converging Bollinger bands imply a big move coming. However we don't know when or which way. My thinking here is that if we do see a near term decline it won't last long. I could be wrong. Plenty to ponder overnight. Europe and Asia were generally higher overnight. We'll see how the market reacts to the employment report tomorrow.

Another day of hanging around as the Dow fell 92 points on good volume. The advance/declines were about even. The summation index is tracking sideways. The NASDAQ posted a gain and continues to lead the way. The S&P 500 finished basically unchanged. It remains short term overbought. I will be looking to buy the SPY June puts if we see some strength tomorrow. I am still in favor of this idea for a short term trade. However it may be too late if we start to drop from the open tomorrow. Gold was up $20 on the futures. The US dollar was lower along with interest rates. The XAU added 1 3/4, while GDX tacked on 1/8. Volume was light. GDX continues to be short term overbought. Still on the sidelines when it comes to the GDX options for now. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was a touch lower today. The Bollinger bands here are beginning to converge. The VIX is short term oversold. We have an overbought S&P along with an oversold VIX. A plus day for stocks tomorrow would trigger a sell signal on one of our timing indicators. We have what could be a potential negative RSI divergence on the S&P daily chart. So we could have what appears to be a set up for the SPY puts. But we do know markets can go where they want. Things can get and stay more overbought or oversold than you think. That said I will probably put in an order overnight depending on what the futures are doing this evening. Of course we are still at the mercy of the next tariff headline. Asia and Europe were both up in Wednesdays trade. We'll keep an eye on the overnight developments.

Drifting higher as the Dow gained 214 points on heavy volume. The advance/declines were 2 to 1 positive. This should stop the summation index from moving lower. The NASDAQ is the leader and that's plus for the bulls. The S&P 500 is still short term overbought. If we continue higher into the close on Thursday, I'm probably going to try the SPY June puts ahead of the jobs report. Not sure if the market will cooperate. Also could change my mind depending on the market movement prior to Friday. But that could be the next trade. Gold was off twenty bucks on the futures. The US dollar was higher and interest rates finished mixed. The XAU and GDX had fractional losses on above average volume. Still short term overbought on GDX. I will not chase it here. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today which fits an up market. Still short term oversold and comfortably below the 20 level. It still looks to me that the VIX implies higher prices in the near term. For me that would mean up days for Wednesday and Thursday followed by a reversal on Friday. However markets rarely move as planned. I'll review the data overnight. Asia was mixed and Europe higher in foreign trading last night. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

It was a one day upside reversal for most markets as they opened lower and closed higher. The Dow was up 35 points on good volume. The advance/declines were negative. The summation index is still trending lower. The NASDAQ and S&P 500 sported gains on the day with the NASDAQ leading the way. That's a positive. The S&P has the feel here of wanting to break out higher from the 2 week sideways congestion that it's been in. Buyers have been stepping in on any sort of decline. The S&P 500 is short term overbought but not at extremes. A run to 6000 in the near term seems likely after todays price action. Gold rallied as geo-political tensions heated up over the weekend. The yellow metal climbed $90 on the futures. The US dollar was lower and interest rates ticked up. The XAU gained 11 3/4 and GDX was up 3 1/8. Volume was heavy as the gold share indices are breaking out to new recent highs. The gold shares had been out performing gold recently and that was a big plus for them. GDX remains short term overbought and we did not chase this move higher. That was just another missed trade. Money continues to find a home in this sector so if it does make it back to short term oversold we'll hopefully buy the GDX calls. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was a bit lower today. Still short term oversold here but not completely. My guess is that the VIX will trend lower and the market higher over the next few days. I could be wrong as I haven't had a good handle on this indicator recently. Perhaps we saw some beginning of the month money flows help the market today. Liquidity doesn't seem to be a problem for stocks at the moment. The jobs report on Friday could be the next big mover. Europe and Asia were lower to start the trading week. We'll see if they bounce back tomorrow.