Bernanke expressed disappointment with the current level of unemployment this morning and traders interpreted that as a promise of another round of quantitative easing. So the bulls returned to the party and we ended up with a very strong day in the markets. SPX gained $19 to close at $1417 and RUT closed up $16 at $846. RUT gapped up strongly this morning, closing well outside of its recent trading range, but RUT still has a ways to go to match the highs of 2011. Surprisingly, trading volume didn't spike up amid the enthusiastic buying; 2.5 billion shares of the S&P 500 traded, slightly down from yesterday. Trading on the NYSE was only up 1%, but volume was up 12% on NASDAQ.

Pending home sales dropped 0.5% in February, but that didn't matter to today's market.

The VIX closed at 14.26%, down about a half of a point. Oddly, VIX was up earlier today as the market averages were hitting new highs.

My April condor position on RUT is up $2,100 with position delta = -$22 and position theta = +$62. Our 910/920 calls appear to be safely OTM even in this bullish environment. One might consider rolling up the 700/710 put spreads at this point, but with the prospects of a correction after such a strong run so far this year, that is probably a bit risky.