SPX opened higher this morning, traded into the red around noon, and then it rebounded, only to be pulled back down by the close of trading. SPX gained $2 when it was all said and done, closing at $1541. RUT gained $3, closing at $930. VIX remained unchanged at 13.5%. Trading volume was flat to slightly down with 2.4 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading (flat from yesterday and below the 50 dma). Trading volume increased 1% on the NYSE and decreased 7% on NASDAQ.

ADP released their private employment report today and it was a favorable surprise to most analysts with 198 thousand jobs added in February. This buoyed the market this morning, but it didn't seem to hold. ADP's numbers suggest that the jobs report Friday may also be favorable and we may even see unemployment tick down a bit. In the absence of some surprising news out of Washington or Europe, this bull market may continue to surprise traders and move higher.

I decided to take a flyer on AAPL today, buying the Jan 2014 500/600/700 call butterfly. The beauty of this trade is a very broad range of profitability and plenty of time to be right. Several of the notable "names" in the hedge fund world are bullish on AAPL from these levels - we'll see.