Once again, we see the market whip higher one day and then give it all back the next. It wasn't quite that bad, but it does wear on you. SPX closed down $13 today at $2053, after gaining $26 yesterday. RUT lost $5 to close at $1232. Volatility rose a bit with the VIX closing up 0.6 points at 16.0%. At the worst of it today, SPX did in fact give back all of yesterday's gains, but it recovered somewhat in the last hour of trading this afternoon. Trading volume was flat to slightly higher with 2.1 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading today. Trading volume was up 7% on the NYSE, but flat on NASDAQ.

The Producer Price Index (PPI) came in with another negative number for February, -0.5%. This was not quite as bad as last month's -0.8%, but this consistent string of low to negative numbers is beginning to alarm economists who fear a deflationary environment, similar to what Japan has suffered through for the past ten or fifteen years. This probably comes in on the delay raising interest rates side of the Fed's scorecard. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey continues to be pretty high at 91.2 for March, down from 95.4 in February.

I closed my March iron condor on RUT at 1050/1060 and 1290/1300 today, locking in a gain of 9.5%. Both spreads passed my Two Sigma Rule, but the swings of this market back and forth have me a little concerned, so I decided to lock in a nice gain and go to cash. My April position stands at a net gain of 5% today, but this position has more room for adjustments if they prove necessary, so I am more comfortable with that position.

Have a nice weekend. It is actually teasing us here in Chicago with almost warm weather - not really, but at least the snow is melting and I can see the sun.