Once again, we are treated to extreme price volatility in this market. I have often pointed out the large numbers of reversals over the past couple of years in my newsletter - down $50 over a few trading sessions and then right back up $50 within a few days. SPX lost $46 on Monday and Tuesday, and then regained $15 of those losses yesterday. But today SPX gave up $32 to close at $1966 - what a wild ride. Are we having fun yet?

RUT lost $18 to close at $1110. Interestingly, both RUT and SPX were down 1.6% today. That's unusual; RUT has been trading much weaker than SPX all year. SPX sliced through support at $1980 and also its 50 dma at $1976. On a strong sell-off like we had today, one would expect increased trading volume as everyone rushed for the exits, but that didn't happen. Trading in the S&P 500 stocks has been consistent at two billion shares every trading day this week, whether up or down. Trading on the NYSE was up today, but only a half of a percent. Trading volume increased 10% on NASDAQ.

Volatility rose over two points today to 15.6% on the VIX. RUT is now down over 4% year to date and is now below the August 1st low of the last correction.

Initial unemployment claims were reported this morning at 293k, up from last week's 281k. Continuing unemployment claims rose seven thousand to 2.44 million. But neither of these numbers looked likely to have started a sell-off in the markets. However, the durable goods orders report was a surprise, dropping 18% in August. This was in contrast to September's strong +22% growth. Perhaps that sparked the profit taking. Tomorrow brings another estimate of second quarter GDP (why can't we just get it right and report it once?). Will a good GDP number start another "buy the dip" run higher? We'll see.