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The markets continued higher today with SPX closing up $9 at $2033; RUT wasn't quite so bullish, losing about fifty cents on the day. Volatility continues to contract, with VIX dropping nearly a full point today. VIX has been steadily dropping since its recent high of 28% on September 28th. Trading volume wasn't particularly high on this expiration Friday with 2.3 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading today. Trading volume was up only 1% on the NYSE and moved down 11% on NASDAQ. Many analysts were looking for SPX to definitively break the recent mid-September highs around $2000, and we had our doubts earlier this week, but today's move higher was encouraging. Perhaps we can finally stop worrying about a retest of the flash Monday lows from late August.
Industrial production for September decreased 0.2%, slightly worse than August's -0.1%. Capacity utilization was essentially flat in September at 77.5% (August was 77.8%). The JOLTS job openings data came in at 5.370 million for August down from July's 5.668M. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment survey reported 92.1 for October, up from September's 87.2.
I closed my November iron condor position on RUT today for a gain of $115 per contract or +13.4%. Even though this is an early close (34 days left), we were able to lock in 82% of the maximum potential gains. Why continue to be exposed to the market if you can lock in over 80% of the potential gains? This brings our year to date returns in the Flying With The Condor™ to +43%.
Enjoy your weekend.
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Just a couple of days ago, I was complimenting SPX for closing for three consecutive days above $2000, or roughly the mid-September high. But SPX couldn't stand the heat and has now retreated, closing down $9 at $1994. RUT has traded even weaker, never reaching the mid-September highs. RUT closed at $1137, down $11. Trading volume remains below the 50 dma on the S&P 500 with 2.4 billion shares, but it was up from yesterday. Trading volume rose 9% on the NYSE and increased 23% on NASDAQ. Volatility remained calm, with the VIX rising only four tenths of a point to 18.0%. My previous thesis appears to be holding, viz., not strong enough to mount a bull run for new all time highs, but not really weak enough to start a bearish trend lower.
Perhaps the Fed's Beige Book threw cold water on the markets. A them running through the minutes was the weakness of our economy and whether it could withstand a interest rate hike. The PPI for September came in at -0.5%, lower than last month's 0% change. Retail sales for September didn't inspire anyone, up 0.1% over August.
I'm out here in Las Vegas for the Traders Expo. I am looking forward to seeing many of you here. It is always nice to put faces to the email exchanges.
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I'm back. I had some web site issues and was unable to post a blog earlier this week.
The strong bull market trend of the past couple of years may not be back, but it at least appears that we have pulled back from the brink of a severe market crash. SPX gained $16 today to close at $1996 and RUT closed at $1153, up $19. Volatility continued to pull back with the VIX losing a full point to close at 18.4%. Trading volume was up with 2.7 billion shares of the S&P 500 companies trading. Trading volume on the NYSE increased 15% and volume increased 3% on NASDAQ.
The FOMC minutes and the weekly unemployment claims will be released tomorrow. That may slow down this market as traders wait for and then peruse those Fed minutes for clues.
I closed my RUT Oct 1040/1050 put spreads yesterday; I will allow the 950/960 puts to go into expiration and expire worthless. Assuming they do expire worthless (seems like a safe assumption), my second October position will close with a gain of 11.3%. You may recall I closed the first October position on August 21st for an 11% loss. Our RUT November 960/970 and 1280/1290 iron condor stands at a net gain of $112 per contract or +13% as of today's close. That brings our year to date performance in the Flying With The Condor™ service to +43%. And that assumes that the gains were not reinvested, so that is a conservative number.
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SPX closed up $3 at $2017 on reduced trading volume, and RUT lost one dollar to close at $1164. Today was the third consecutive close above $2000, which was where the last bounce higher stalled in mid-September. Just as important, each close has been moving steadily higher, but the markets are slowing. Trading in the S&P 500 stocks slowed dramatically today to 1.8 billion shares. Trading volume on the NYSE dropped off 21% and volume declined 26% on NASDAQ. Volatility continues to contract, with the VIX dropping off almost a full point to 16.2%.
So the market is slowing. Trading volume is declining and implied volatility is contracting. Good news or bad news? The beauty of options trading is that you don't really care; you have tools in your trading toolbox for any occasion. But let's consider the underlying economic drivers.
The panic about China pushing the whole globe into recession appears to have passed. Yes, China's economy is slowing, and that does affect the global economy, but we aren't heading into recession. After all, the last quarterly GDP number here in the states was +3.9%. But we are not in the booming economic spurt that has historically been typical of recoveries from past recessions. Despite all of the pronouncements from the politicians, this remains a weak economy. That is why the FOMC has been so hesitant to raise interest rates. They don't want to squash what meager progress we are seeing.
Our November iron condor position on RUT at 960/970 and 1280/1290 continues to build gains with $121 per contract or +14% as of today's close. I will probably close this position soon since we now stand at about 85% of the maximum gain for this position. If we were to close the November trade today, we would be up 43% in the Flying With The Condor™ service for 2015.
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Today's market was quite the carnival ride. When I checked the futures this morning, they looked modestly positive. But the jobs report took the steam out of the bulls, and the markets opened down and traded lower. That lasted until about 10 am ET and then the bulls just started a slow but steady climb higher - and it didn't stop. SPX climbed right into the close at $1951, its high for the day. RUT closed up $17 at $1114. Volatility came in almost two points with the VIX closing at 20.9%. Trading volume spiked upward with 2.8 billion shares of the S&P trading. Trading volume increased 11% on the NYSE and moved up 4% on NASDAQ.
The jobs report disappointed analysts with 142 thousand jobs, up slightly from last month's 136k, but far short of what traders were hoping. The unemployment rate stayed at 5.1%. Yesterday's unemployment claims data were more positive with continuing unemployment claims hitting a new low at 2.2 million. Factory orders also reported today at a negative 1.7% for August, even worse than July's -0.2%. So the economic data wasn't stellar, but it isn't signaling a recession either. The big question for traders is whether today was just a short covering splurge or if we have indeed seen the bottom of this correction. I suppose we will have to wait until next week to get some clues to the answer.
Have a great weekend.
