News that taxes won't be raised in 2011 was welcomed by the markets this morning, but the euphoria didn't last. The SPX traded as high as $1235 but was pulled back to a closing price of $1224 for a net increase of less than a dollar. RUT fared better (as usual of late), but also pulled back from its highs to close at $764, up $4. Trading volume jumped higher today with 3.9 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading; trading on the NYSE was up 70% and volume was up 18% on NASDAQ. Some observers blamed the pull back on news of widening probes into hedge fund trading.

My Dec iron condor on RUT stands at a P/L of +$1,460, delta = -$130, theta = +$232. The Jan SPX condor stands roughly at break-even with delta = -$52 and theta = +$64. Did you notice GOOG? It has gapped up at the open for two days in succession... interesting.