The markets rose this morning in spite of durable goods orders falling off by 7.3% in July - quite the contrast from the 3.9% increase in June. But the market shrugged off the bad news and traded higher until a little after 3 pm ET, when the tensions in Syria appeared to be heating up with some strong words from Secretary Kerry. News reports of an impending debt crisis fight in Washington are also starting to take their toll. But I think that crisis will be pushed to the back burner behind the September FOMC meeting. When all the traders return after Labor Day, FOMC will be the focus (absent a blow up of some kind in the Middle East).

SPX closed down $7 at $1657, after trading ten points higher most of the day. RUT was unchanged at $1038. Volatility fell below 14% early in the session, but rose in the last hour, with VIX closing up one point to 15%. Trading volume in the S&P 500 stocks fell to 1.6 billion shares. Trading volume fell 7% on the NYSE and dropped 6% on NASDAQ. Today's close on SPX took it back below the 50 dma that it struggled to break last week. In a similar fashion, RUT cannot break resistance at $1040. The market is mildly bullish at this point, but those bulls are cautious. It won't take much to spook them.

My Sept RUT iron condor at 930/940 and 1120/1130 stands at a net gain of 13% with position delta on 20 contracts at +$10 and position theta = +$69. Tomorrow brings the consumer confidence numbers and the Case Schiller housing price index.