Traders were generally on the sidelines this morning as they waited for the FOMC announcement this afternoon. Stocks mostly traded sideways and down before the announcement in the afternoon. SPX closed up $4 at $1198 after briefly trading down to its recent favorite number, $1185. RUT closed at $715, up $2 on the day. In general, the day's trading was uneventful; apparently, the election results and the FOMC announcement were "as expected". Trading volume was up across the board; the S&P 500 stocks traded 3.5 billion shares, equal to the 50 dma. Trading on the NYSE was up 23% but only up 3% on NASDAQ. The economic data announced today was generally positive but was ignored as traders waited on the Fed announcement. ADP reported a gain of 43k jobs in October, a big improvement from the loss of 2k reported for September. The ISM Services Index reported out at 54.3, a small improvement over September's 53.2, and factory orders for September rose 2.1%. The Fed will be buying as much as 600 billion dollars worth of treasury bonds through the second quarter of 2011. However, the announcement also included the usual cautionary language that the pace of purchase will depend on the committee's judgment of the economy.

My Nov condor remains at the high end of its range with delta = -$158 and theta = +$221. December's position is up about $1,100 and has a delta of -$29 and a theta of +$75 so it is well positioned. The much anticipated day in the markets is over without much happening - but that's good news.