The S&P 500 Index (SPX) opened up lower this morning and then the bulls tried to take it higher, but were once again rebuffed at $1700 (reached $1699 as the intraday high). Then the bears took over and traded it down to the low of the day at $1686. A compromise was reached as SPX closed at $1691, down $6. RUT traded more strongly, closing down one dollar at $1048. Volatility increased almost one point to 13.4%, which is still pretty low historically. Trading volume fell off with 1.8 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading on the NYSE dropped 7% and trading volume decreased 13% on NASDAQ.

The first three days of trading this week created a lot of correction chatter, but the last two days appear more consistent with overall market trading since mid-July. During that period of time, SPX has traded from $1680 to $1710 and RUT has traded in the range of $1040 to $1062. Since the discussions of Fed tapering in September earlier this week didn't panic the market the way it did in late May, we may just see some sideways consolidation range trading for the near future. But the next Fed meeting is over a month away; traders may get nervous waiting.

I decided to leave my RUT Aug 1080/1090 call spreads open into next week. I will probably close them next week and allow the Aug 970/980 puts to expire worthless unless the market drops quite a bit. The Sept position stands at a net gain of $1,180 or +7% with delta = -$17 and theta = +$70.

I need to clear out of here and meet my wife for dinner. Have a great weekend.