I am attending a birthday celebration this evening, so my post will be late. The "damage" done by the Dow's rise was very modest today. I haven't had any time at all to look at charts, but the first thing I look at it the net dollar change in my portfolio, and it was small.

The kind folks at Elliott Wave International said I could show their charts from time to time, so here's one they just posted today. It shows the same trendline break I've been mentioning, but it has some labeling in there that might prove helpful.

I'll be writing late tonight; thanks for your patience!

I'm about to head out on a boating trip on the lake, so I'll be quiet for the rest of the trading day. (I piloted a boat for the first time in my life a few days ago, and we all made it back alive; I started the trip as Commodore Knight, but after I got pretty lost getting us back home, I demoted myself to Captain).

This morning's rise in equities is both expected and healthy. This intraday graph on the S&P 500 speaks for itself.

I'm a little surprised at how brief the rise in gold and oil was, although I'm not necessarily saying this brief micro-rally is the end of it. I took profits on my GLD calls early this morning, but I've got a number of oil calls still in place. Their stops are tight, set at yesterday's highs. It wouldn't take much to boink me out of those positions if oil doesn't get its footing.

See you after the close!

Gold's up. Oil is up. Equities are down. Three for three……….good! As we all let their stops do their work, I'll start the morning off with a different subject: nature.

Although I grew up and have always lived as a suburbanite, I strongly believe that spending some time close to nature is restorative for the soul. Yesterday I took my little girl for a walk in the woods here in Tahoe. It was very quiet, and we just strolled amongst the tall connifers and looked and listened to the stream.

Just to sit and stare at something as simple as this is calming. You can hear the wonderful sounds of the water; notice the beautiful way it flows around and above the rocks; look at the colors of the rocks and let the artistry of the plants draping themselves above the stream form a natural picture.

My girl found a long twig and slid it through the stream, pretending to "fish". It was really cute. We stayed there for a while, and it amplified for me the belief that kids have to be outdoors at least some of the time to appreciate God's creation (or the FSM's). Because what the market wants to push on children is a lot closer to this:

Yuck. One picture sure cancels the other out, doesn't it?