The jobs report came in lower than virtually anyone predicted; on CNBC, Santelli was the pessimist with a prediction of 150k, but then the report came in at +88k; surveyed economists expected about 190k. Perhaps even more pessimistic was the labor participation rate coming in at 63.3%, the lowest reading since 1979. This measures the number of people who are either employed or actively seeking employment. Almost 500k dropped out since the last report. But, lest you panic, these employment data have so many adjustments and revisions, that it is hard to get too excited about any one report.

As you might expect, the surprise jobs report pushed futures lower and the major indexes opened significantly lower. SPX traded as low as $1540 before starting to rebound. Likewise, RUT traded down to $910, but then slowly traded upward all day to close at $923, down only $2 on the day and very close to the 50 dma at $924. SPX closed at $1553, down $7. This places SPX right in the middle of the trading range of the past several weeks. So after opening down $18, SPX closes down $7. Considering how bad this jobs report was, that's incredible price action. Trading volume popped up a bit with 2.5 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading (right at the 50 dma) and trading was also up on NYSE, with an increase of 11%. Trading volume on NASDAQ moved up 10%.

So what can we make of today's trading? My interpretation is this: traders considered the jobs report and recent economic data as evidence of a weakening economy and initially took some of their risk off the table, but then they considered what this evidence does for the FOMC. It strengthens the Fed's case for quantitative easing, so traders are reassured that the Fed's support of this market will continue through QE and low interest rates. So the party continues, but probably a bit moderated.

I removed the hedges on my April condor position today; it remains down about 11% with delta = +$87 and theta = +$155. The put spreads are about one standard deviation OTM and the calls are about two standard deviations OTM with two weeks to go. My May condor stands at a P/L of +$720 or +4% with delta = +$32 and theta = +$47.

Enjoy your weekend.