The markets opened higher this morning, but then quickly gave up that positive tone and traded sideways most of the day. SPX closed almost unchanged at $1370, up less than a dollar on the day. RUT gained $2 to close at $798. Last Tuesday and Wednesday appeared to set $1360 as a support level; $1340 is the support level well established in February and March. Breaking $1340 could be scary. On the other side, we will have to break through $1390 to feel a bit more confident about this market. That was a pretty well established support level before SPX broke down through it on April 9. For now, one would have to describe this market as trapped in a sideways trading range. Trading volume dropped off a bit today with 2.6 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading; trading volume on the NYSE was down 3% and trading on NASDAQ was up 7%.

Today's economic data were a bit anemic with retail sales increasing 0.8% in March and the Empire manufacturing survey coming in at 6.6, down markedly from the previous reading of 20.2.

My April iron condor on RUT is cruising down to expiration this week end. This position essentially stands at its maximum gain at this point at about 16%. The 910/920 call spreads are 5.8 standard deviations OTM and the 700/710 put spreads are 4.7 standard deviations OTM. Barring the end of the world, both spreads will expire worthless this weekend. The May iron condor on RUT stands at a P/L of -$900 with delta = +$52 and theta = +$68. The volatility of this market is a little disconcerting, but non-directional trades are doing rather well in this environment, as long as you know how to adjust them when this market gyrates.