Slow

Next year I should just take the last week of the year off.  There is very little action.  I have seen more index put activity over the past few days so it seems like traders are protecting gains by buying puts to put off sales till next year for tax purposes.  But overall, there is still a lot of speculation in the options market. 

Every market is different, but this does feel a bit like the end of 2004.  Charles Biderman of Trimtabs has only one explanation for how the market keeps going higher without new money coming into stocks.  QE2.  That seems like as good a reason as any to explain the endless bid. 

Bloomberg interview

CNBC interview