The weakness in the markets continued today. Lower commodity prices in general, not just oil, have analysts worried that a global recession is in the making. Copper spot prices hit a six year low. The retail sales numbers for December were released today and were down 0.9%. Lower oil prices contributed to that, but after pulling out autos and gas, the number is still negative at -0.3%. Adding fuel to the fire, J.P. Morgan missed their earnings target; the combination of all of these effects weighed on the market.

SPX lost $12, closing at $2011. RUT gapped down at the open, but actually traded higher during the session. But due to the gap down, RUT closed down $4 at $1177. Volatility rose again with the VIX hitting 21.5%, up one point. SPX traded as low as $1988 today, dipping below the low from January 6th of $1992; the pull back in December marked a low of $1973. If we break $1970, we could start to see real damage, more like the October correction.

Trading volume was up again today with 2.7 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading on the NYSE was up 2%, but trading volume on NASDAQ declined 4%.

My February condor on RUT remains about 3% in the black. The short puts at $1080 appear to be safe at this point, but with everyone crying that the sky is falling, who knows?