SPX threatened to trade lower today, hitting a low around $2040 this morning, but then it recovered in the afternoon to close at $2049, down $3.  SPX spiked upon the release of the Fed minutes at 2:00 pm ET, but dropped back to close roughly where it was before the announcement. RUT declined $13 to close at $1158. RUT has steadily trended lower since 11/12/14. This divergence has caught many analysts' attention, but SPX seems undeterred and just climbs higher, leaving RUT in the dust. Volatility remains flat with the VIX steady around 14% - not exactly low, but not very high either.

Trading volume remains low with 1.9 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading today; the 50 dma = 2.2B. Trading on the NYSE rose 3%, but trading volume declined 2% on NASDAQ.

Housing starts declined a bit with an annualized rate of 1.009 million for October, down from September's 1.038 million. Building permits ran in parallel with 1.080 million, down from 1.031 million.

I sold an iron condor on GMCR, anticipating their earnings announcement; based on after hours trading, that trade looks like a winner. My December iron condor on SPX remains fully hedged and stands at a net loss of about 4% (the hedges are working).

I may not get my blog written tomorrow since I will be traveling to Las Vegas for the Traders Expo. You can hear my talk on the internet version of the trading conference if you can't make it out to Las Vegas. But this is a good time to leave frigid Chicago.