The markets continued their strong bullish run this morning, but continued chatter about the negotiations surrounding Greek bonds, and more importantly, the lack of progress, appeared to wear down traders. So the markets plunged into red ink around noon and spent the rest of the day trying to climb out of that hole. SPX tacked on less than a dollar to close at $1316 while RUT closed down $2 at $783. The price action on both SPX and RUT were of the classic doji candlestick variety - the mark of indecision. This candlestick often foretells a market reversal, but not necessarily always. At a minimum, it suggests that bullish sentiment and bearish sentiment are roughly balanced at this point. The markets have had a strong run so far this year, so a little pause might be in order. The doji may not indicate a reversal as much as a pause.

The VIX increased less than half a percentage point on this minor pullback, closing at 18.7%. Other than the news out of Europe, there was no significant economic news today. In fact, we won't have any significant economic reports until Wednesday with FOMC and pending home sales.

Trading volume was down today with the S&P 500 trading right at the 50 dma of 2.9 billion shares. Volume declined 20% on the NYSE and declined 14% on NASDAQ.

My February iron condor on RUT stands at a P/L of $2,460 with position delta = -$47 and position theta = +$73. Most of the gains in this position are coming from the put spreads, although the 840/850 call spreads could be closed for a small profit now. But the delta of the short 840 calls is less than 7, so those spreads are quite safe for now. My perception is that a strong earnings season has motivated much of the bullish run this month. Will the market's attention return to Europe after the announcements begin to wane?