SPX dipped down to $2046 last Thursday, and then down to $2048 today before recovering to close at $2060, down $8. RUT closed essentially unchanged at $1252 (down one dollar). SPX has a solid support level at $2040 that goes back to the correction low in mid-March, so that is the line in the sand that many analysts are watching. We have two data points that suggest support is holding at $2040, but with this market's volatility, that could change at any moment. That mid-March correction low on the NASDAQ Composite was $4850 and that is where NASDAQ's intraday low hit today before recovering. RUT is trading even more strongly; its March high was $1243 and its low today was $1240. The small and mid-cap indexes are trading more strongly than the blue chips (SPX); that gives me some confidence that the market is finding support here. The fact that the VIX actually declined two tenths of a point, closing at 15.1%, appears to support this more positive interpretation. Trading volume picked up today with a 2% increase on the NYSE and volume was up 5% on NASDAQ. As of 5:00 pm CT, trading volume for the S&P 500 stocks was not yet available.

ADP's private employment report cam in a little weak at +189 thousand jobs, down from last month's +214k. But the correlation between ADP's report and the non-farm payrolls report, due Friday morning, has been sketchy. The ISM manufacturing index came out at 51.5, for March, down a bit from February's 52.9. Construction spending improved in February with a smaller decline at -0.1%, up from January's -1.7%. This set of economic data isn't strong, but it doesn't support a rationale for the market to turn downward either.

My May iron condor on RUT at 1110/1120 and 1330/1340 stands at a net gain of 7% today and is delta neutral at about one dollar per contract.

With the markets closed on Friday, we may see some reduction in trading volume tomorrow. One would think that might also be accompanied by some lazy sideways trading, but all historical norms are trashed by this market.