IBM reported disappointing earnings after the close and is down about 5% in after hours trading. Will that affect the overall market? Possibly. This earnings season has been a bit of a mixed bag thus far. At the least, IBM's performance may worry analysts about the state of the overall economy. I doubt that it will force the market lower, but it could hold it down a bit, maybe to more of a sideways trend. SPX traded down about ten points from the open, but recovered to close up one dollar at $2034. I would term that as weakly bullish. RUT traded in a similar fashion, closing up two dollars at $1164. RUT traded down as low as $1155, the 50 dma, but bounced off that support and closed quite a bit higher at $1164. Trading volume was down across the board with 2.1 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading (the 50 dma = 2.5B). Trading was down 15% on the NYSE and down 7% on NASDAQ. Volatility was essentially unchanged with the VIX at 15%.

This is a weak week for economic news; the principal market moving events will be the earnings announcements.

I closed the November iron condor position in the Flying With The Condor™ service on Friday for a gain of 13.4%; this brings our year to date performance to 43%. Why aren't you with us?