The markets jumped up at the open but then began a slow decline that lasted until the last hour of trading this afternoon. Then the bulls came in and closed the major indexes for modest gains on the day. The SPX has been trading in the range between $1170 and $1190 and today was no exception, closing at $1178 after hitting a low of $1171 and trading as high as $1181. RUT closed at $684, up over $5 today. Trading volume was mixed with a 14% decline on the NYSE, and a 15% increase on NASDAQ. Trading volume for the S&P 500 declined again today; this is the lowest trading volume for the S&P 500 since March 8. The economic news was generally pretty positive today, but that apparently wasn't enough to drive the markets higher with the unemployment numbers anticipated tomorrow. Initial unemployment claims for last week dropped 6k to 439k while the continuing unemployment claims were essentially flat at 4.662M. The ISM manufacturing index reported out at 59.6, much better than expected and the best reading in five years. It appears that the strong run upward for the markets recently causes traders to believe most of the recent good news is already priced into the market.

My April condor position continues to trim its losses as we move closer to expiration; I added some ATM calendars today to boost the theta decay. The position now stands at a P/L of -$1,315, delta = +$10 and theta = +$207. The May position is in the black at +$360, delta = -$29 and theta = +$76.

Now the big question for the weekend: how will the market respond on Monday morning to tomorrow's unemployment numbers? Given the very balanced bull/bear tussle of the past several sessions, it will require some significant news to push this market one way or the other.