The Standard and Poors 500 Index (SPX) jumped up at the open and traded as high as $1662, but a sell-off in the last hour of trading took its toll. SPX closed at $1654, up $6. RUT closed up $7 at $994. Volatility decreased less than a half point to 14.5%. Trading volume was flat with 2.3 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading (the 50 dma = 2.4B). Trading on the NYSE was down 4% and trading volume on NASDAQ was up 1%.

Initial unemployment claims came in about ten thousand higher at 354k while the continuing unemployment claims rose 63k to 2.986 million. First quarter GDP was revised downward one tenth of a percentage point to an annualized growth rate of +2.4%.

I noticed today that the last six trading sessions on SPX had long shadows on the candlesticks - three were higher and three were lower. On those days, traders took the index either higher or lower during the day, but were pulled back before the close. This suggests a great deal of indecision to me. Traders are nervous about the Fed pulling back from stimulating the market and are jumping one way or the other almost every day based on the latest data or the latest rumor.

My June iron condor position on RUT stands at a P/L of -$2,230 with position delta = -$101 and position theta = +$161.