The Standard and Poors 500 index (SPX) closed today at 5505, down 40 points or 0.7%. Today’s performance capped off a weekly decline of 2.4%. Trading volume jumped above the 50-day moving average (dma) on Wednesday but then declined the rest of the week.

VIX, the volatility index for the S&P 500 options, opened today at 16.4%, spiked up to 17.2% and moved as low as 10.6% before closing at 16.5%, up almost four percent for the day. VIX opened the week at 12.8% and increased 29% this week. Traders are spooked.

I track the Russell 2000 index with the IWM ETF, which closed today at 216.8, down 1.1 points or 0.5%. IWM opened the week at 214.8 for a weekly loss of 0.9%. IWM started a very strong recovery last week that continued through Tuesday this week before succumbing to the pull back of the blue chips.

The NASDAQ Composite index closed today at 17,727, down 144 points 
or 0.8%. NASDAQ opened the week at 18,486 for a weekly loss of 4.1%. NASDAQ set new all-time highs last week and touched that level on Monday but declined the rest of the week. Trading volume ran below the 50 dma all week with the exception of Monday’s spike and declined significantly today. That may be the result of the global IT outage; many brokers were out of business much of the day.

The broad market indices have traded in a largely bullish trend since early May, but this week brought a decisive change of direction, although I am unsure what triggered the shift. The Russell 2000 was the oddity over much of this period since it was clearly not participating in the rally. However, that all changed on July 11th when IWM gapped open over two percent. IWM gapped open higher over the next four trading sessions. After trying to set a new all-time high on Tuesday, it declined into the close and traded lower the rest of the week.

Russell stood out this week with a gain of 0.9%. The S&P 500 lost 2.4% while NASDAQ brought up the rear with a loss of 4.1%.

The commonly accepted standard for calling a correction is a decline greater than ten percent. Lesser declines are called pull backs. NASDAQ is the winner in the downward race with a decline of 5.1% from its most recent high. SPX has declined 2.9% and the Russell 2000 has lost 3.5%. A relatively small group of high-tech stocks has dominated the bullish run this year, and the small caps were late to the game. Perhaps it isn’t too surprising that the NASDAQ with its high-tech dominance is leading the pull back, just as it led the rise.

I think it is premature to be thinking about corrections, but this week, at a minimum, is worthy of our paying closer attention.