The S&P 500 is on a three-day win streak, but volumes are light and trading has been choppier than Lake Michigan along the Windy City.

Stock index futures fell into the red along with European equity markets overnight and that set the table for weakness at the open on Wall Street despite better-than-expected Housing Starts data.

The S&P fell as much as 10 points and VIX moved to 21.28. However, the selling proved short-lived and the energy sector is seeing notable strength on gains in crude.

Profit reports painted a mixed picture, with IBM revenues falling short of expectations, but Netflix (NFLX) and United Healthcare (UNH) shares among the names seeing post-earnings strength.

Hopes for action from the ECB tomorrow seems to have bolstered sentiment through midday as well. The S&P is now up 8 points and 18 points from session lows. VIX hit an afternoon low of 18.64 and is off .46 to 19.43.

Overall volumes remain light. Roughly 6.7 million calls and 5.8 million puts traded across the exchanges. The projected volume for the day is 15 million contracts and 1 million less than the one-month average.

SPY Weekly (1/23) 195 puts are today’s most actives. 68,300 contracts changed hands.

Some of the Europe ETFs are seeing noteworthy flow ahead of the ECB and Mario Draghi’s press conference. 62,000 Apr 30 calls traded on the iShares Germany Fund (EWG). Call buyers are also showing interest in the Vanguard Europe (VGK) Feb 54 calls and iShares Italy (EWI) June 15-strike calls.

Bullish flow is also being seen in Applied Materials (AMAT), GNC, and Himax (HIMX). Bears are circling Mattel (MAT) and Petmed Express (PETS).