The Russell 2000 Index (RUT) made consecutive all-time highs Wednesday and Thursday, but retreated $5 today to close at $1168. SPX lost $7, closing at $1839. Volatility remained unchanged with the VIX at 12.4%. As one might expect on an options expiration Friday, trading volume was up with 2.6 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading. Trading on the NYSE rose 28% and volume rose 11% on NASDAQ.

SPX is now down about $9 or -0.5% since the first of the year. The stock almanac's January barometer is looking pretty weak at the halfway point. SPX appears unable to generate sufficient momentum to break out to new highs above $1850. On the other hand, it remains pretty strong, not really giving up much ground. Next week looks to be slow in terms of economic data, so the most likely market moving events may be the continuing stream of earnings announcements. But so far, those announcements haven't built much excitement. The bears haven't been able to generate any momentum when the market has appeared weakest so far this year. Today was good example; as the markets pulled back, volatility remained flat. The bulls are reserved, but confident.

We had several economic reports today: housing starts came in at an annualized rate of 999k in December, down from 1107k; building permits followed that trend with 986k in December, down form 1017k. Industrial production dropped in December to +0.3%, down from +1.0%; capacity utilization was flat at 79.2%. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey declined in January to 80.4 from December's 82.5. Maybe this mediocre data contributed to the markets trading weakly sideways today. The losses accelerated in the last hour of trading, but the markets bounced back in the last few minutes so the closes came in above the day's lows.

SPX settled today for the January options at $1846.06. As I write this blog, the RUT settlement value has not yet been released. You may check this link to see it posted later today on the CBOE web site.