Most of today, RUT traded more weakly than SPX. In other words, one is tempted to say that RUT led the markets downward, but that would be extreme. The major market averages are all holding to early support levels. This is only a sideways consolidation thus far. SPX closed at $1685 for a loss of $6. SPX is holding just above a strong support level from $1670 to $1680. RUT closed down $8 at $1041. There is a weak area of support on the RUT chart around $1040. If RUT breaks $1040, there aren't any solid support levels until around $1000, near the 50 dma at $1001. Trading volume declined with 1.9 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading volume was flat on the NYSE and declined 14% on NASDAQ.

The only significant economic data came in with pending home sales, which declined 0.4% in June after a strong 5.8% gain in May. Price Schiller and consumer confidence come out tomorrow. The FOMC meeting also begins tomorrow, but their announcement will be released Wednesday afternoon.

I don't expect to see much market action until after the FOMC announcement on Wednesday. Then we have the jobs report Friday as the finale.

My Aug iron condor on RUT continues to bleed off time decay, improving the position's P/L day by day. Today's net P/L is -$3,160 or -15% with position delta = -$50 and position theta = +$183 on 20 contracts. So the theta/delta ratio is very positive. Absent an extreme market move, the Aug position will continue to improve.

After several months of positive real estate market data, we seem to be seeing cracks in the story lately. It will be interesting to see if the Price Schiller price data continue to support that positive outlook.