While the markets remain mixed for the week, Wednesday showed some signs of weakness as the month of August comes to an end. Volume has picked up slightly as traders begin to mark the official end of the summer and return to work.

After printing a new high last week, the S&P 500 (SPY  ) has yet to return there. Although the SPY remains very close to all time highs, so far there has been no catalyst for traders to take n more risk. Historically September is the worst performing month for the markets. It is also on record as being the most volatile month of the year spanning back just over 30 years.

The same can be said for the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ  ) which also is hovering just off the all time high. The trend here remains steady but has paused a bit at these highs. Traders would consider Wednesday's low an area of support so it is very likely that it could be crucial area in the short term.

Crude oil (USO  ) has been the main focus so far this week with a decline on Wednesday that sparked a little fear in the commodity. The USO has now given back almost half of its gains set by the month long rally in August. The impressive part of this is that in just a few days the USO has erased what it took almost one month to accomplish.

Gold (GLD  ) has now pulled back 5% from its all time high and volume continues to pick up. Unlike Oil, the decline in gold recently has been slow, steady, and orderly. The same cannot be said for gold mining companies (GDX  ) which now find themselves in a bear market. In a matter of 3 weeks, the GDX has fallen over 20% from its highs set earlier in August. The decline has been considerably more volatile than Gold itself.

Lastly, bonds continue to wiggle around in a range with little guidance. With the elections coming up, it seems that the Fed is content to wait until after the next President is chosen before raising rates. With this in mind the (TLT  ) has continued to be range bound with no reasonable expectation that it will move one way or the other.