The Standard and Poors 500 Index (SPX) is what I principally watch as a measure of the broad stock market. Everyone talks about the Dow, but that is only 30 stocks. The 500 stocks in SPX give us a better overall view of the market. SPX opened downward this morning and tried to bounce but instead slid downward until later in the afternoon when it recovered somewhat but still closed down $4 at $1768. RUT closed unchanged at $1101. Volatility moved up about one third of a point to 12.8%, so we seem to be in a relatively complacent sideways market that is just treading water for now. One wonders when the next shoe drops and we see a spurt one way or the other. But it is nice to see some calm seas for a change.

There were no economic reports of any consequence today. Trading volume increased a bit from yesterday with 2.0 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading, but this remains below the 50 dma at 2.1B. Trading increased 17% on the NYSE and volume increased 10% on NASDAQ.

This is a good time to be trading non-directionally and just watch time decay work for you. But stay alert. I don't think the era of high price volatility is over.