Pretty much a sideways affair today except for the Dow which lost 289 points. Volume was heavy and the advance/declines were negative. The summation index is moving down. The NASDAQ posted a slight gain. The inflation data came in where expected. The S&P 500 had a small loss. Its short term indicators continue to hover in the mid-range area. More inflation data on Friday. Technically we still could go either way from here. Plus we remain hostage to the headlines from the war in Iran. We'll stay on the sidelines with regards to the SPY options until we get a decent signal. Gold was down $53. Both the US dollar and interest rates finished higher. The XAU lost 9 points and GDX fell a couple of points. Volume was slightly below average. The short term indicators for GDX are now trending sideways on the oversold side of the ledger. My order for the GDX March puts remains out there. However as the days go by the appeal of making a trade diminishes because the risk increases. That said I do still like this idea ahead of the Fed. We'll see. mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was slightly down today. The short term indicators here are trending lower. The VIX does remain above 20 though, so volatlity is still in the picture. Not sure what to expect for the markets on Thursday as it could be a waiting game on Fridays data. Not sure what kind of surprise we can get out of Iran at this point but you never know. Asia was mixed and Europe down overnight. I'll keep an eye on this evenings developments.