Waiting for a Downturn

The market has been up almost non stop since September. Given the lenght and size of the upward move it would not be surprising to see a pullback in the near future. Some technical indicators have turned negative, but I would not say it is a clear signal yet. One potential catalyst for a downturn would be more problems in Europe. The latest candidate is Portugal, though fears around Portugese debt seemed to have been eased today. Primarily responsible for the easing were comments by China and Japan that they would purchase debt to be issued by a newly created European bailout fund. Also, Alcoa kicked off the quarterly earnings reports last night and any surprise earnings numbers or conference call info could drive markets near term. As a hedge agains a possible downturn I bought a February SPY (S&P 500 ETF) $122 put @ $1.03.