Today's markets were reasonably positive, if you didn't look too closely. And the talking heads struggled to explain why. The two most common reasons given were a report from Germany of improved industrial orders and a report that Microsoft is narrowing their search for a CEO. Really?

SPX gained $8 to close at $1770, but RUT didn't follow suit. It fell $5 to close at $1099. So, once again, as we have seen several times recently, SPX and the Dow are running higher on their own and the small caps and mid-caps are showing weakness. This isn't a sign of strength. And the root cause isn't German industrial orders. This market is running out of steam. A sideways consolidation will be the most gentle correction. Investor's Intelligence reported its weekly survey of investors' bullish and bearish expectations. We are near record highs with over 55% of the investors surveyed saying they are bullish. This survey often predicts the tops and bottoms of the market based on these excesses of sentiment in one direction or the other.

Trading volume was mixed, with the S&P 500 stocks increasing to 2.1 billion shares and volume dropping 4% on the NYSE. But trading volume rose 5% on NASDAQ.

My November condor continues to limp along. I will most likely close the call spreads Friday and that will effectively close the trade.