The Standard and Poors 500 stock index set a new all-time closing high today at $2069, up $6. It wasn't long ago that this would be news, but it almost seems like an everyday occurrence now. RUT came back to life today, gaining $15 to close at $1187. That is almost exactly where RUT closed on November 12th, and then traded downward from there while SPX continued higher. RUT remains well below its high March 4th at $1209.

Volatility continues to contract, albeit slowly. VIX closed down about a quarter point to 12.7%. Trading volume was higher Friday due to options expiration, so it wasn't surprising that trading volume fell back today with 1.8 billion shares of the S&P stocks trading. Trading dropped 27% on the NYSE and declined 16% on NASDAQ. Friday was the first time that S&P trading volume has been above the 50 dma since October 31st. We continue to see this market steadily march higher on low trading volume. This is surely the bull market no one believes in. I admit I don't understand it. Perhaps our premise that we can study the fundamentals and rationalize market price behavior requires reexamination? I would like to think I understand it...

There wasn't any significant economic news today, but tomorrow brings third quarter GDP, Case Schiller housing prices, and consumer confidence reports.

I spoke at the Traders Expo in Las Vegas last week. They recorded my talk and you may play the video on the Traders Expo e-show page.