The stock markets sold off pretty strongly starting around 2pm ET this afternoon.  Some of the selling might have been associated with some index rebalancing, but the reality is that the charts have looked pretty weak the past couple of weeks. SPX lost $24 to close at $1631 and RUT closed down $10 at $984. Trading volume spiked upward with 2.8 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading; trading volume on the NYSE increased 22% and trading increased 6% on NASDAQ.

Support on SPX is around $1635, so today's close was either right at support or SPX has already broken support - we'll see on Monday. The next strong support level on SPX is around $1600. Similarly, RUT's close was very close to support at $985. The next support level on RUT is at $975.

The markets traded more positively this morning after the Chicago PMI surprised traders with a report at 58.7, up from last month's 49.0. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment values were revised to 84.5 for May, the highest sentiment reading since July 2007. However, traders may be starting to worry early about next week's jobs report.

The Jun iron condor position on RUT closed at a P/L of -$1,620 with delta = -$48 and theta = +$165. The 1030/1040 call spreads are about one standard deviation OTM and the 890/900 put spreads are two standard deviations OTM. Several adjustments have taken their toll on this trade, but it still retains a maximum gain of about 5% with three weeks to go.

Enjoy your weekend.