This market keeps traders on edge. I am starting to think that day traders may be better off than long term investors. At least, they may sleep better.

After Thursday and Friday's declines, Monday's rally was welcome. But then we gave it back today. SPX closed down $18 to $2063 and RUT lost $19 to close at $1122. The common denominator between Friday and today's trading was the late recovery. SPX dipped to $2055 today, but then recovered somewhat to close at $2063. That suggests that the bulls are still in the game; they haven't panicked and headed for the exits just yet. Maybe this is just a sideways consolidation market with high levels of price volatility. Many of us have been remarking on the exceptional price volatility for a couple of years now. Maybe it's time to admit this is part of the new world. Blame it on high speed computer algorithms or whatever, but it is what it is. If we are going to play this game, we have to accept the basic nature of the market.

The decline in implied volatility as measured by the VIX yesterday was given back today with VIX closing at 15.6%. Trading volume increased today with 2.5 billion shares of the S&P 500 companies trading. Trading increased 4% on the NYSE and increased 6% on NASDAQ.

We didn't have any significant U.S. economic news today. Tomorrow brings the ADP private payrolls number that many view as a precursor to the jobs report Friday. Sleep well...