The S&P 500 index opened higher this morning and then chopped sideways until after the FOMC minutes were released at 2 pm ET. Then SPX strengthened a bit more to close at $1973, up $9. RUT traded weaker all morning, saw a little boost after the Fed minutes, but then gave most of it back by the close, ending at $1174, up $2. Trading volume declined markedly from yesterday with 1.8 billion shares of the S&P stocks, equal with the 50 dma. Trading decreased 12% on the NYSE and declined 20% on NASDAQ.

So what changed today? We had two strong down days and now a weakly up to sideways day. But what was the impetus to drive markets down in the first place? And what slowed the slide today? The standard answer on most financial news media was that traders took confidence from the FOMC minutes detailing the end of quantitative easing in October - really? No news there. That makes me wonder what happens when we get another weak economic report. This market has ignored all bad news for quite some time.

The only thing I can conclude is that a large number of traders are nervous and anxious to protect their gains by selling at the least bit of negative news, an ugly rumor, or even a frown from the boss. If those nervous nellies are encouraged by reading the Fed minutes, heaven help us when the next piece of bad news hits the wires. Maybe the crazy guy with the sign, The End is Near, is onto something.