The markets managed to stay in the black today, but it wasn't pretty. SPX gained $2 to close at $1762 while RUT managed to remain unchanged at $1118. Volatility, as measured by the VIX, increased just two tenths of a point to close at 13.3%. SPX traded lower all morning but then revived during the afternoon only to give it all back in the last hour of trading. RUT was weak all day and this could be foretelling some overall market weakness. RUT has consistently led the bull market this year. Trading volume fell off with 2.1 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading volume increased 3% on the NYSE but fell 19% on NASDAQ.

Industrial production figures for September came in at a gain of +0.6%, up slightly from the previous reading of +0.4%. Wow. Capacity utilization increased slightly in September from 77.9% to 78.3%. Pending home sales fell again in September by 5.6%, an increase over August's -1.6% drop. Obviously, none of these reports excited the bulls. But we may see a quiet market during the next two days until the FOMC announcement on Wednesday afternoon.

I was unsure whether to bet on AAPL into the earnings announcement. The Ichan effect could have been thought to give it a bullish push, but I finally decided to close my AAPL spreads to be safe. That appears to have been a good call at this moment, but AAPL hasn't dropped much. Maybe it will bounce tomorrow.