Virtually every advisory service is calling for new lows (perhaps substantial) in gold and while GLD followed the downslope, GDX managed to buck the trend and reverse course for a nice 1.5+% gain. The strong positive momentum kicked off 2 hours prior to the close and never looked back. Confidence that the Euro debt situation will abate was presumably the catalyst (note XLF) but XLB went right along with the ride up to R3.  The VWAP was penetrated 2 hours pre close and that was really a powerful tell that a rally was likely.  R3 days tend to have a following day backlash although the minimal fade into the close gave little hint so we may be surprised tomorrow.  Also surprising was the marginal selloff in TLT and the only moderate declines in VXX and VIX.  The game can go either way at this point and hope seems to be the watchword of the  hour….one little whisper of doubt and we’ll be back to Friday’s prices in a flash.  This is not a time for buy and hold strategies unless you’re delta neutral…as even otherwise market neutral setups (pair trades) have felt pain lately.