The fireworks started at the open on Wall Street this morning as traders went on a buying spree. Trading volume leaped up dramatically with over 3.6 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading; the 50 dma stands at 3.3 billion shares. Volume jumped 89% on the NYSE and increased 445% on NASDAQ. Financial stocks led today's gains, but as you might surmise from the NASDAQ trading volume, tech stocks also had a big day. SPX closed at $1272, up $14; this is the highest level for the S&P 500 index since September of 2008. RUT outperformed SPX, just as it did all last year, closing at $799, up $15. One has to turn back the calendar to January of 2008 to see these levels in the Russell 2000 Index. The ISM Index for December came in at 57.0, slightly above November's 56.6. Friday's unemployment report may accelerate or temper this bullish trend. Many market analysts are hoping to see the unemployment rate show some decrease, no matter how small. Reactions to that report may set the tone for January's trading.

I had to make some adjustments in my Jan iron condor on SPX. I closed the 1150/1160 puts and rolled them up to 1210/1220. I also bought some February $1300 calls as hedges for this bullish trend. That brings my Greeks back into a better position with delta = -$15 and theta = +$227. Delta of the Jan $1300 calls is just under 21. The Feb RUT condor is still in good shape with a P/L of -$260, delta = -$44 and theta = +$87.

Happy New Year!