Markets traded mostly sideways today with most traders focused on the nonfarm payroll report tomorrow morning. Initial unemployment claims reported essentially flat week to week at 445k and continuing claims decreased by 48k to 4.5 million. However retail sales appear to be making solid gains and that news appeared to offset the lack of improvement in the unemployment claims data. RUT lost $1 to close at $684 while SPX lost $2 to close at $1158. Trading volume declined across the board with 3.2 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks changing hands. Trading on the NYSE dropped 5% and it declined 12% on NASDAQ. The dollar recovered somewhat today and that pressured gold prices. With bond yields at record lows, there is a lot of money on the sidelines considering whether it is safe to buy stocks. It is impossible to predict what piece of news, or more importantly, the interpretation of that news, will push this market one way or the other. Alcoa's earnings announcement certainly wasn't very encouraging with a 21% drop in earnings; however, they beat analyst expectations, so that may be a positive boost for stocks tomorrow.

The situation with my Oct and Nov iron condors on RUT is largely unchanged. Both are underwater and susceptible to a strong move upward. Both positions are hedged and we'll see what the jobs report does to the markets tomorrow.