The markets calmed a bit after yesterday's exuberance. SPX pulled back $11 to close at $2052, while RUT stayed pretty flat, losing one dollar to close at $1189. Volatility was up just a tad at 16.7%. Trading volume fell off from yesterday with 2.2 billion shares of the S&P stocks trading; this is right at the 50 dma. Trading declined 8% on the NYSE and declined 16% on NASDAQ.

The last pull back began as SPX opened at $2063 on January 9th and then proceeded to drop to $1993 on January 15th. SPX closed yesterday right at that opening on January 9th as the pull back began, so I was interested to see if we could break out above that level, but it wasn't to be... At least it didn't happen today. Perhaps the bull trend is on hold for a bit as the market consolidates and chops sideways.

Existing home sales came in at 4.93 million for 2014, representing a 3.1% decline year over year. This was the first annual decline in four years.

Our February condor position on RUT closed at a net gain of 11% today. Delta for this position is less than a dollar per contract, so we are very well positioned at 27 days from expiration. Next week brings some closely watched earnings announcements with AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, and FB.

Have a great weekend.