The markets opened down this morning and chopped sideways until early afternoon when they moved into the red and stayed there. SPX traded down $4 and closed at $1788, while RUT lost $6, closing at $1101. This pattern of RUT trading weaker than SPX is continuing. Trading volume was flat to lower with 2.1 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading volume was down 2% on the NYSE and decreased 5% on NASDAQ.

Volatility moved up a bit again today with the VIX closing at 13.4%, up about one third of a point.

No economic data were reported today. Tomorrow brings retail sales, existing home sales and the CPI.

My Dec iron condor stands at a net P/L of +$1,800 or +13% with position delta = -$38 and position theta = +$136 (20 contracts). 

It appears that the bears are gaining more control in this market over the past couple of days. But the pullbacks this year have generally been taken as opportunities to buy. So I would be cautious about playing to the downside.