China raised interest rates to retard inflation and traders reacted negatively to this news because it raised concerns about the global economic recovery stalling. However, the markets slowly traded upward most of the day and all of the major indexes finished in positive territory except for the Dow. SPX closed up less than one dollar at $1258. RUT gained $3 to close at $792. Surprisingly, trading volume declined even further from Thursday's low pre-holiday volume. About 1.6 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks traded. Trading declined 24% on the NYSE and dropped 14% on NASDAQ.

My Jan SPX iron condor stands at a P/L of -$1,979 with delta = -$91 and theta = +$137. The Feb RUT iron condor stands at a P/L of -$700 with delta = -$36 and theta = +$83. It has been surprising how the indexes continue to climb on such weak volume. Bullishness is common, which concerns me. The big institutional players do not appear to be "in the game", so the question remains as to which way they will push this market when they return in volume.