Large technology names like AAPL and GOOG made some nice gains today and led the broader market higher. IBM's bullish run since its positive earnings announcement last week has driven the Dow close to breaking the $12k level. SPX closed up $7 at $1291 and RUT closed at $779 for a $6 increase. Today's price action was certainly encouraging to the bulls, but SPX really needs to break through the high set last week at $1296 to confidently establish itself as having returned to the bullish uptrend. However, those market analysts looking for a healthy correction can't be too comfortable because last week's weakness didn't really qualify as a correction. Additional data on the bearish side of the camp would be the lower volume on today's positive price action. The market surged pretty strongly across the board, but trading volume was down. Only 3.2 billion shares of the S&P 500 traded, below the 50 dma. Trading was down 25% on the NYSE and was essentially flat (down 1%) on NASDAQ. No significant economic news was out today; the FOMC starts its meeting tomorrow and will issue a statement Wednesday. Nothing new is expected from the FOMC but the risk of a surprise can't be ignored.

My Feb RUT iron condor at 680/690 and 860/870 stands at a P/L of +$2,260 with delta = +$15 and theta = +$69. Some have asked me why I don't roll up the put spreads in this position to sweeten the potential gains. Normally that would be a possibility, but I have been concerned about a possible down turn in this market after having such a strong bullish run, and I felt more comfortable with that large safety margin on the downside. In addition, it is looking more probable each day that I can possibly come close to the full maximum gain for this position of $3300 on 20 contracts. That's about 20% on the capital at risk - that is an excellent gain. I don't want my greed to risk compromising that gain.

Watch tomorrow's open to see if this bullish run can continue. Strong follow through that pushes SPX above $1300 would be very bullish.