The markets basically wandered sideways today on reduced volume. SPX closed unchanged at $1371 and RUT lost $3 to close at $814. Trading volume fell off with 2.2 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading; trading on the NYSE was down 11% and trading on the NASDAQ dropped 15%.

The FOMC meeting is tomorrow; perhaps traders are sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see if the Fed has another round of quantitative easing up its sleeve.

A surprising data point today came from the VIX that closed at 15.6%, down from Friday's close just above 17%. That is the lowest VIX reading since last July, just before the August crash. Hmm... that gives one pause, doesn't it?

My Mar condor position on RUT only consists of the 730/740 put spreads at this point, which are far OTM and will presumably expire worthless this coming weekend. That will close the March position for a 20% gain and bring our year to date return to 17%. The Apr RUT iron condor at 700/710 and 910/920 stands at a P/L of +$1,240 with position delta = +$17 and position theta = +$57 (20 contracts).

So we wait to see what Bernanke has to say. Most likely we won't see a big market move, but you never know. If he surprises traders, it could make a difference.