All of us parents know this question well - it happens on every trip in the car greater than twenty minutes. I thought of that question this afternoon as I watched this market drop farther yet.

You take your financial life in your hands when you walk away from this market for the last two hours of the day - sometimes it runs up huge; sometimes it drops like a rock. Today was the latter. SPX opened the day down just a touch and traded largely sideways. The VIX pulled back; everything appeared serene. It had me thinking that it's slowing; maybe the worst is over. But then SPX lost over twenty points in the last two hours of trading. SPX closed at $1906, down $22. RUT also closed down at $1053, down $15. The VIX popped up over two points to 21.2%. After trading as high as $1937 this morning, SPX closed at its low for the day - very bearish. Trading volume spiked upward, underscoring the bearish move. Over three billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks traded today; trading increased 3% on the NYSE and jumped 24% on NASDAQ.

If you are looking for the dire economic report that triggered this latest sell-off, forget it. There isn't one. As you know, I have been critical of this very weak economic recovery that I consider largely government induced. But the economy isn't rolling over into a recession. I'm unsure what's driving this decline; in these situations, all traders become technical traders. Fundamentals just don't explain it.

This market almost suckered me into selling some November put spreads today. Fortunately, I decided to give it more time to show its true character. This has been a very tough week in the markets. Traders need to be treated for whiplash.

I'm taking my girlfriend to dinner and a movie, leaving the market behind.