It has been a volatile week - down, up and back down. SPX closed down $13 today at $2107. RUT closed at $1247, down $7. With the GDP news today, one would have thought the markets would be down even more, but that seems to be the nature of this market. Nothing quite moves it in a sustained direction (either way). Trading volume did pop up today with 2.5 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading. Trading volume rose 29% on the NYSE and increased 12% on NASDAQ. Volatility rose with the VIX closing at 13.8%, up about half a point. But that remains a relatively low level of volatility. The institutional traders aren't spooked; they are just uninspired.

The big economic news of the day was the revision to first quarter GDP to a negative 0.7%.  Economists call it a recession when we have two negative quarters of GDP in succession. We have been seeing several weak economic data points, but no one dares use the R word. The Chicago PMI for May didn't help; it dropped from 52.3 to 46.2. The University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey increased a bit in May, from 88.6 to 90.7.

My July iron condor on RUT at 1120/1130 and 1360/1370 stands at a net gain of 13%. The August RUT condor at 1100/1110 and 1350/1360 stands at a net gain of 8%.

Have a great weekend.