The next two weeks will likely be mostly sideways trading in lower volume. But, as I write that, I realize that much of what we know about market behavior based on history has been turned upside down this year. Just one example was the recent 5% correction in the midst of everyone expecting the Santa Claus rally that has a solid history behind it. The options legend, Larry McMillan, wrote in his newsletter this week, "In nearly 45 years of trading, I don't think I've ever seen a market as wild as the one has been this month." That makes me feel better. I am particularly pleased that our November and December iron condor positions in the Flying With The Condor™ service achieved positive returns in the midst of this craziness.

SPX closed up $8 at $2079 today and RUT gained $6 to close at $1202. Trading in the S&P 500 stocks was down a bit today at 2.0 billion shares; the 50 dma = 2.3B. Trading volumes on the NYSE and NASDAQ were both up by large percentages over Friday, but this is the usual post-expiration Friday drop-off. Volatility has almost returned to its pre-correction values, with the VIX closing at 15.3%, down 1.2 points today.

Existing home sales reported for November at an annualized rate of 4.93 million, down from last month's 5.25 million. Analysts were surprised; they had expected around 5.20 million.

The stock and option exchanges will be open for normal hours tomorrow and Friday. They will be open until 1:00 pm ET Wednesday and closed Thursday.

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