The markets opened trading largely sideways today, but the mood darkened around noon and the major indexes all closed down for the day. Perhaps more significantly, trading volume increased today; this may signal some institutional profit taking. SPX closed down $7 at $1343 and RUT lost $7 to close at $814. Trading in the S&P 500 jumped up to 3.1 billion shares; trading also increased on the NYSE, up 9%. Trading volume declined 4% on NASDAQ. VIX jumped up 1.6 points to 21.1%.

The Empire Manufacturing Survey came in at 19.5 for February, up markedly from January's 13.5. Industrial production was flat for January and capacity utilization was also nearly unchanged at 78.5%.

My Feb iron condor spread on RUT stands at a P/L of +$2,000 with delta = +$35 and theta = +$345. The call spreads and the put spreads are both about 2.5 standard deviations OTM. My Mar condor stands at a P/L of -$1,060 with delta = -$70 and theta = +$164.

Many analysts have been predicting a slight correction in this market since early February; perhaps we are seeing the beginnings of that correction?