SPX opened strongly this morning and ran up to that psychologically important $1700 level. But then the bears pulled it back to $1688, all of this in a little over an hour of trading. But the bulls held the day, pushing SPX back up to close at $1697, up $7 on the day. RUT didn't trade as strongly upward but still gained $5 to close at $1049. Volatility cooled a bit with VIX dropping to 12.7%.

This morning's headline on Yahoo Finance is an excellent illustration of one of the most troublesome problems in our country today. The headline was: U.S. Jobless Claims Edge Up; Still point To Healing Labor Market". Who writes this stuff? Does he get a commission check from the administration? Initial unemployment claims increased by five thousand and continuing claims increased by 67 thousand. Tell those people that the labor market is healing. I remember when journalists were very scrupulous to never allow their opions and political posture be revealed in their reporting - but no more.

My Aug iron condor on RUT stands at a net loss of $1,700 or -8% with delta = -$43 and theta = +$141. The Sept position is up $1,140 or +7% with delta = -$22 and theta = +$71. I have my trading group meeting this evening, so I have to cut this blog short. I hope you are long PCLN...