Today was a mixed day on Wall Street with some stocks continuing their climb higher, but the broad market averages pulled back a bit. SPX closed down $6 at $1803, but RUT traded down even more with a decrease of $10 to $1120. Trading volume was mixed with two billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading, down just a bit from yesterday. Trading dropped 6% on the NYSE but increased 12% on NASDAQ. The VIX tacked on almost a half point to close the day at 13.9%.

SPX and RUT have both appeared to have set up a sideways trading channel defined on the lower end by the highs set in late October which were tested last week, and the upper end defined by the highs set the day after Thanksgiving. This corresponds to $1123 to $1147 on RUT, and $1780 to $1810 on SPX. Today's close on SPX at $1803 isn't too far from the high set at $1814, so SPX remains close to the upper end of that channel, but RUT's close at $1120 has broken the lower end of RUT's trading range. Yesterday's disparity in RUT trading down more strongly than SPX continued today. It would appear traders are taking some risk off the table and selling their higher beta stocks.

My RUT Dec iron condor continues to benefit from the sideways to downward movement of the past few days. The current P/L is +$2,820, or +18%, with delta = -$48 and theta = +$184 on 20 contracts. The FOMC meeting is next week. Will the markets just tread water until then?