Just another slow day in the summer as the Dow fell 184 points on lighter volume. The advance/declines were slightly positive. The summation index continues sideways. Modest losses for most of the major averages with the NASDAQ leading the way. Inflation data tomorrow should get things going one way or the other. The S&P 500 is tracking sideways for now but that should end tomorrow. The short term indicators here are still running in place on the the overbought side of the ledger. I canceled my open order for the SPY August puts as it wasn't going to get filled. I did not want to pay up for the puts even though that is the trade that I feel makes the most sense here. We'll see. Gold was up $11 on the futures. The US dollar finished flat and interest rates were just a touch lower. The XAU and GDX had fractional losses on light volume. The short term indicators for GDX are still overbought. If the markets do drop tomorrow on higher inflation the gold shares will probably go with them. I still like the idea of the GDX August calls on a near term pullback. I may even place an order for them overnight. We are waiting for some kind of move lower back towards the down trend line that was recently broken in GDX. Hasn't happened yet. Perhaps will have to wait and try the September GDX calls here. Mentally I'm feeling OK. The VIX was lower today which doesn't fit with a down market. The short term indicators here simply remain oversold. We'll see how the markets react to tomorrows data and go from there. The US/Iran conflict has been quiet lately but that won't last. Europe was mixed and Asia lower with the exception of Japan. All eyes on tomorrows inflation report.