Stocks are trading in a narrow range Wednesday. The S&P 500, which rallied 23 points Tuesday, has traded in a 7.5 point range and is up 2 points to 912.33.

The major averages opened modestly lower in cautious trading ahead of housing data. The number proved to be a non-event (annualized rate of 4.68 mln homes, compared to 4.66 mln consensus.) Stocks bounced higher, then lower, and had flat-lined by midday.

A day of quiet trading has the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) down .82 to 29.80, not far from session lows and significantly below the 34.57 high Tuesday morning.

Options activity is on the light side, with approximately 2.1 million puts and 2.8 million calls traded in the first two hours, a ratio of .74.

Russell 2000 Small Cap Index (.RUT) June 560 and 570 calls are the most actively traded contracts, with some spread sellers collecting 35 cents to sell the 560s and buy the 570s. The Russell is up 1.10 to 501.1 and the spread, which traded nearly 70K times, is probably a bet that the index will stay below 560 over the next few weeks.

Citi (C) June 4 call is the most actively traded equity option contract, with 53.7K traded and some premium sellers collecting 15 and 16 cents in early trading. C is unchanged at $3.77 per share.

General Motors (GM) is the biggest loser in the Dow Wednesday. Shares are down 14.6 percent after some bondholders voted against converting debt to shares, which increases the risk of bankruptcy. GM made a run to $1.20 and GM Jun 1 calls is the second most actively traded equity options contract. 44K traded, including a sweep of 4,257 contracts at the offer for 30 cents. Looks like a substantial premium purchase.

Bullish trading also surfaced in TJX (TJX), Sandisk (SNDK), and Cree (CREE). Meanwhile, bearish order flow surfaced in Wells Fargo (WFC), Comcast (CMCSA), and Polycom (PLCM).