Much of Friday's losses were recovered today, but trading volume was lower across the board. Trading volume fell 19% on the NYSE and 16% on the NASDAQ; trading of the S&P 500 stocks dropped below four billion shares and below the 50 day moving average. It appears that news of a bailout plan for Greece calmed fears in the markets but didn't result in unbridled bullishness either. The Greece bailout pushed the Euro lower which, in turn, boosted the dollar by 0.6%; surprisingly, the stock markets traded upward in the face of the stronger dollar. RUT ran up over $16 to close at $733 while the SPX closed at $1202, up over $15. These gains didn't quite erase Friday's damage, but it was close.

Economic news was modestly favorable; personal income increased 0.3% while personal expenditures increased 0.6%; construction spending in March increased 0.2%; the ISM Manufacturing Index increased to 60.4 in April, up from 59.6 in March. All signs are consistently pointing to economic recovery, but a very slow recovery; many economists are hesitant to be very optimistic as long as the unemployment figures remain so stubbornly high.

My May iron condor on RUT stands at a P/L of -$1,220, delta = -$42, and theta = +$184. The calls now stand at one standard deviation OTM while the put spreads are over two standard deviations OTM with 17 days to go. My June iron condor on RUT at 640/650 and 790/800 stands at a P/L of -$500, delta = -$42 and theta = +$77.

These certainly are volatile markets. RUT has traded up or down $15 or more (about 2%) during each of the last three trading sessions - wow! Tough times for delta neutral traders; stay on top of your positions; don't hesitate to make the adjustments when needed.