The markets almost appear to be teasing us once again. The more I trade, the more the market seems like a living, breathing malevolent beast. I need professional help. But I digress. SPX closed at a new high yesterday and I was watching the open this morning for a clue as to the future direction - break-out or not? SPX opened this morning at $2122, one dollar higher, but then dropped back a bit to $2117 and then recovered to close at $2123, up $2 for the day. In short, it was a boring day in the markets with an open and close very close to each other. RUT behaved similarly, declining $1 to close at $1244. Volatility continued to decrease with the VIX closing at 12.4%. But this leaves us with the question of whether or not the bulls are going to finally break out to new highs or pull back into the trading range.

Industrial production reported at a decline of 0.3% for April, equal to the decline in March. Capacity utilization for April declined slightly to 78.2% from March's 78.6%. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey reported out at 88.6% for May, down from April's 95.9. Maybe the lower gas price euphoria has dissipated.

So we will wait until Monday to see if the bulls can push this market out of the consolidation range. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend.