The markets were weighed down at the open this morning by lower markets overseas as well as a stronger US dollar. But then the dollar turned over and the stock markets revived. SPX gained $7 to close at $1349 while RUT also gained $7 to close at $847. Trading volume was flat with three billion shares of the S&P 500 trading; volume was down 2% on the NYSE and down 1% on NASDAQ. Initial unemployment claims were reported as 434k this week, greater than expected, but down from last week. Continuing unemployment claims were flat at 3.8 billion. The Producer Price Index (PPI) increased 0.8%, a little higher than the 0.5% increase predicted by analysts.

My May iron condor on RUT is near its maximum profit with delta = +$2 and theta = +$63. Unless something dramatic happens, I will allow both the 920/930 call spreads and the 720/730 put spreads to expire worthless. The June iron condor on RUT stands at a P/L of -$44 with delta = -$79 and theta = +$103.

So now we watch to see if this market can sustain a trend one way or the other. It seems we have the Fed's QE II and a series of strong earnings reports pushing the markets upward, but many economic headwinds holding the markets down. For now, the tug of war is a dead heat.