We continue to grind away with an upward bias as the Dow lost 13 points on average volume. The advance/declines were positive. The overall market was stronger than the Dow. The Fed beige book came and went with nothing new. The technicals remain the same, overbought and staying that way. There is nothing to suggest any changes are forthcoming. Summation index moving higher. We are due for some pullback but I don't expect anything drastic. GE bounced back today on lighter volume. It gained 1/8. I'm looking at the January calls for perhaps a trade before the earnings report but it would be very risky. It is probably wiser to look elsewhere. Perhaps the OEX instead. Gold continued to the upside by $8 on the futures and a touch more in the aftermarket. The US dollar had a strong day but that did not deter gold. The XAU gained 1 1/3. ABX, GG and NEM all had fractional moves to the upside on light volume. It looks like I will have to hold off on buying the gold share calls for now. I need to see some weakness here and it just isn't happening. I think that it is too late to chase this move but I could be wrong. Mentally I'm feeling tired, did not sleep well or enough. The song remains the same for the stock indices. The technicals have been overbought for weeks. Yet we continue higher. Gold and the US dollar have both shown strength in the last week or so and that isn't the normal relationship between the two. No real bad news out of Europe and that has helped us move higher. 2 trading days left in the week before a long holiday weekend.

We moved to the upside from the recent sideways congestion, as the Dow gained 69 points on average volume. The advance/declines were 3 to 1 positive. We're still overbought and the summation index is still moving higher. I really don't see anything that would stop the market from going higher. However I think it will be more of a grind than a dramatic move up. We won't remain overbought forever. Fed notes tomorrow. GE lost 1/8 on better volume. When the market opened up over 100 points, GE showed a little strength and then started to lose ground. It did not participate in todays rally. To me, that was a warning sign. I dumped the GE calls early. That trade lasted for quite a while and the return was 800%. That's not a typo. Maybe GE will lead the market lower here but I certainly don't know. It's a nice trade to begin the new year but the next trade is all that matters now. Gold was up about $25 as the US dollar fell again today. The XAU rose 3 2/3. ABX up 2/3, GG added 3/8 and NEM higher by 1 1/8. Volume was average. Looks like I am too late for the gold share calls but I will keep them in mind. Mentally I'm doing OK but not feeling well. No solid technical signals at the moment for what I'm following. 7 days left in the January option cycle. Probably a good time to be patient. We do have the GE earnings announcement on expiration Friday. Probably too risky to try anything there but we'll see. No OEX trades in the works at the moment. We'll see if we can build on todays gains tomorrow.

A fairly quiet start to the week as the Dow gained 32 points on light volume. The advance/declines were positive. Summation index continues higher. The trend is up and we're overbought. That has been the case since the year started. Won't go on like this forever but we continue to grind higher. The news out of Europe today was a non-event for a change. Perhaps the Fed beige book on Wednesday will bring some decent market movement. Or not. GE was up another 1/8 on light volume. I again placed a stop limit order for the day but we never came back to it. Still overextended on the technicals for GE but I continue to hold on as we grind higher here as well. Pretty sure I'll be selling the calls this week. The uptrend line on the daily charts from the beginning of December is still intact. Gold fell a bit today despite weakness in the US dollar. The yellow metal was down around $8 on the futures. The gold shares were mixed with ABX up 1/4, GG rose 3/4 and NEM fell 1/2. Volume was light. I'm still considering some gold share calls for February. The technicals are more overbought than oversold though. So we'll see. Mentally I'm feeling OK, slept good enough. The stock indices have been drifting for about a week with overbought technicals. Not exactly sure how that is going to play out. GE continues to show excellent relative strength and that is one of the reasons for holding on to the calls for so long. However this trade has only 8 days to go before option expiration. Plus the earnings are due on expiration Friday. The risk increases with every passing day but that is always the case in this game. We'll check what the overseas markets do overnight and take it from there.

The employment report came and went as the Dow fell 55 points on light volume. The advance/declines were negative. The jobs report was a bit better than expected but the market did not rally. The overall market was stronger than the Dow once again. We're still overbought and staying there. The summation index continues higher. Where we go next is the question as usual. I'd like to see one more pop to the upside but of course I'm holding calls at the moment. I have no idea what next week will bring. Some economic data and the Fed beige book will be out. GE was up 1/8 on average volume. I placed a stop loss order here for the day but it wasn't hit. The GE calls I own are still in the black. The relative strength of GE continues to be strong but I can't hold on to these options forever. They will probably be sold next week. At least they should be. Overbought both short and medium term here. Gold fell a couple of bucks on the futures as the US dollar continues to move higher. In fact it's a mystery to me why gold hasn't dropped this week with the US dollars strength. The XAU fell 1 7/8. ABX off 1/2, GG down 1 1/8 and NEM dipped 1/8. Volume was light. I'd still like to get some gold share calls but not exactly sure about the timing at this point. Perhaps next week. ABX has been showing the best relative strength but there is no guarantee that continues going forward. Mentally I'm a bit tired, did not sleep enough. Both the stock indices and gold have moved higher this week despite the rise in the US dollar. That is the opposite of what you would expect. I don't know why nor do I know how much longer that abnormal relationship can go on. I'm still going to look for higher prices in the beginning of next week for the stock indexes. That could give me an opportunity to dump the GE calls. That is my game plan as of now, subject to revision over the weekend. It's the first Friday afternoon of the new year and time for a break.

The Dow tried to sell off this morning but once again came back and finished the day with a loss of 2 points on average volume. The advance/declines were positive. The overall market was stronger than the Dow, which leads me to believe higher prices are in the near future. Summation index still moving higher. All eyes will be on the employment report tomorrow. No idea what that holds. The stock indices are still overbought and staying there. This condition won't last forever. No OEX trades in mind at the moment. GE was flat on the day. Volume was light. I've been holding the GE calls for quite some time. They remain in the black. I'm thinking that I will sell them tomorrow or in the beginning of next week. I don't think there will be a big decline here but what do I know? 2 weeks left in the January option cycle after tomorrow. Gold was up another $7 today and a touch more in the aftermarket. This, despite a huge rally in the US dollar. Money poured out of gold in December and now in January it is coming back in. The XAU was off 1/3 today. ABX, GG and NEM had fractional moves one way or the other on light volume. I may go out to the February option cycle if I give the gold shares a try here. I did notice some huge volume and open interest expansion in the ABX February $52.5 calls. The relative strength of ABX has been strong at the beginning of the year so far. However it's also possible that I'll try the GG calls. Not sure why gold hasn't dropped with the strength of the dollar. There are Middle East rumblings again. The gold share technicals are getting overbought short term but not on the medium term. I'd still like to see a near term pullback before purchasing some calls. May not happen. Mentally I'm feeling OK, slept good enough. Waiting on the data tomorrow and the markets reaction to it. I'm leaning towards higher prices after todays market action. That's a guess as usual. Anything could still come out of Europe at any time. So we'll see what happens.

The Dow continued higher today but without a lot of conviction. The most watched index rose 21 points on light volume. The advance/declines were about even. We're probably in a wait and see mode until the employment report on Friday. Overbought and staying there. The summation index continues higher. GE was up an 1/8 or so on light volume. I don't know how much longer I'm going to hold on to the GE calls. Overbought on a daily and weekly basis. Possible negative divergence on the daily RSI. Gold continued higher, up a dozen points despite a higher US dollar. The XAU was flat. ABX up 3/4, GG off 1/3 and NEM down 1/8. Volume was light, with the exception of ABX. ABX has been the leader here to the upside. I still might try the calls there if we get some pullback. Not extremely overbought yet. Mentally I'm feeling tired, did not sleep well. Not a lot of action in the stock indices today. The overseas markets were generally weaker but the Dow was resilient. That has been the case lately. We'll see how long that lasts. Gold has had a nice bounce and I still think we could move higher. Need some weakness there to get long. I expect tomorrow to be a non-event in the markets. I've been wrong before and often as well.

We started the new year to the upside as the Dow gained 180 points on what looks like light volume. The advance/declines were 3 to 1 positive. We were higher on the day but could not hold onto the earlier gains. Although we were up, I don't like the action. The transports came well off of their highs. I would have liked to see the Dow close near its high for the day. If we have another solid up day tomorrow, then I will feel better about the market moving forward. If not, than I'm not so sure. The technicals are overbought but could stay that way. We had some Fed news today but it wasn't really a market mover. GE was up 1/2 on average volume. Still overbought here and we closed off the highs as well. If we move lower here we will have a negative RSI divergence and that will not bode well for higher prices in GE. My GE calls are still in the black but I will have to think hard about getting rid of them sooner rather than later. We'll see. Gold was one of the stories of the day, up over $30 on the futures. The US dollar was fairly weaker on the day. The XAU gained 8 2/3. ABX up 2 1/4, GG rose 1 1/4 and NEM higher by 2 bucks. Volume was good. Money is coming back into the gold shares and it is probably too late for the January calls here. Any pullback can be bought short term in my opinion. I don't like missing moves but we never got the Gold/XAU ratio buy signal, although we did get a positive RSI divergence. Also had a bullish candlestick pattern at recent support on ABX 2 days ago. Sometimes you miss. Mentally I'm feeling OK. Tomorrow could be key and I'd like to see more upside in the stock indices. If not, decisions will have to be made. Some economic data out this week but all eyes will be on the employment report due Friday. We cannot forget that it is still an event driven atmosphere. Any news out of Europe could move this thing one way or the other. It's a risky environment. More overbought than oversold on the stock indices here as well. Plenty to ponder. Gold has had a nice bounce here as the year starts. Is it for real or just beginning of the year money flows? Time will tell. We'll see what tomorrow brings.