The S&P futures were lower this morning, but the markets quickly shrugged off that early weakness and rose to set new 52 week highs today; but trading was mostly sideways and gradually upward. The markets were waiting on the FOMC minutes to be released, but then traded weakly upward on that news. Trading volume was muted: up 7% on the NYSE, flat on NASDAQ, and still below the 50 day moving average on the S&P 500. The VIX dropped to 16.2%, approximately as low as it was in late March, but you have to go back to May of 2008 to see similar lows. RUT closed up less than $4 at $701 while the SPX closed at $1189, up $2; these are both 52 week highs. It appears that the bulls don't have sufficient conviction to chase the market higher, but no one is jumping out either. Every technical analyst is screaming overbought, but it doesn't phase the traders; they may not be buying in volume, but they are buying.

My condors are getting pushed into a corner by this slow relentless push upward. April now stands at a P/L of -$1,955 with a position delta of -$210 and theta = +$321. The double calendar I have embedded in this condor is right at its upper breakeven and now stands about $350 underwater. The May condor has surrendered some of its gains and stands at +$280, with a position delta of -$72 and theta = +$82. The fact that theta and delta are similar in absolute value shows the stress on this position. So we wait and see if the bulls can put another positive gain on the books tomorrow.