The news out of Europe appears to be getting better with at least a temporary solution, and the markets responded accordingly. The Greek debt problem hasn't been solved, but who cares? Politicians are kicking the can down the road. SPX opened down this morning but started climbing at 10 am ET and never stopped. SPX closed at $2110, up $12, within a few cents of its intraday high. Many analysts had suggested $2100 would give resistance, but SPX motored through that level without hesitation. RUT followed suit, but not quite so strongly, closing up $4 at $1232. The VIX declined one full point to 14.3%. Today was expiration Friday, so we usually see some increased trading volume, but it wasn't significant with 2.1 billion shares of the S&P stocks, still below the 50 dma. Trading on the NYSE increased 2% and trading increased 11% on NASDAQ.

SPX settled at $2094.87 and RUT settled at $1228.33. This confirmed the closing of our February RUT 1070/1080 put spreads, resulting in an 18% gain.

For those of you that trade SPX and VIX options, be sure you note the new trading hours beginning in March. Those options will trade five days per week from 2:00 am CT until 8:15 am CT. Trading in the new hours will begin for VIX options on March 2nd, and begins March 9th for SPX. Check the CBOE web site for more information.

Enjoy your weekend.