Markets continued lower today, but trading volume declined. SPX closed at $2051, down $12 and RUT lost $9 to close at $1113. The VIX increased a half point to 16.1%. This decline seems to be slowing as though it will settle into support at $2040, where the market hesitated in the first couple of weeks of April, before moving higher. The 50 dma is also at $2041. In three of the last four trading days, SPX has traded down to lows for the day and then recovered into the close. Closes at the lows for the day are the scary signs of a pull back that may turn into a correction.

Trading volume fell off today with 2.3 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading volume was flat on the NYSE and declined 3% on NASDAQ.

ADP's private payrolls report came out at 156 thousand jobs for April, down from March's 194k. If that is a sign of a weak jobs report Friday, this recent market decline could get worse. Factory orders were up 1.1% for March, a big improvement over February's 1.9% decline. The ISM Services survey increased slightly to 55.7 for April, up from 54.5.

I closed the SPX May condor in the Flying With The Condor™  service for a nice gain of 16%. The June condor is positioned delta neutral in the Russell 2000 Index and is up 5%.

Today's trading volume decline may carry into tomorrow as traders look to the jobs report on Friday.