Most traders have already taken their positions in advance of the elections and the FOMC decision next week, or they are sitting on the sidelines. Either way, the listless sideways trading continued today. SPX closed virtually unchanged at $1183 while RUT rose $2 to close at $703. Trading volume was flat to down with 3.1 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading; the 50 dma = 3.5 billion shares. Trading on the NYSE was down 4% but trading was up 4% on NASDAQ. Third quarter GDP grew 2.0%, up a bit from the second quarter at 1.7%. The Chicago PMI came in at 60.6 for October, essentially unchanged from September. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey reported 67.7 for October, down only slightly from September's 67.9. So the economic data fit this market: basically sideways.

As you might expect in this market, my condor positions are largely unchanged. The Nov condor sits at a delta of -$107 and theta = +$197 while the Dec position has a delta of -$15 and theta = +$78. The price risk of the Nov position is a bit high, although the theta/delta ratio is good. The Dec condor is nicely balanced.

So we wait to see what happens next week: the election results and the FOMC decision on Wednesday and then the jobs report on Friday; it promises to be a volatile week. Have a great weekend.