Selling pressures continued today, driving the S&P 500 to break its 200 day moving average at $1102, and then bouncing from $1101 to trade back up to close at $1115, a net loss of only $6 for the day. RUT traded in a similar pattern, but didn't recover as well as the SPX; RUT dropped $8 to close at $675. Trading volumes were higher across the board with an increase of 17% on NYSE and 15% on NASDAQ. At one point today, the DJIA was off $186 - we continue to see violent swings both down and then back up. It appears that the European debt crisis and uncertainty surrounding financial reform legislation continue to weigh on this market.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped 0.1% in April, easing any inflation fears from last month's small increase. The FOMC minutes from the last meeting were released this afternoon; the minutes included news that there were no immediate plans to sell the mortgage-backed securities acquired during the financial crisis. This appeared to drive the markets higher this afternoon.

My iron condor spreads remain close to where they were yesterday. I will close some or all of the May position tomorrow. Increased volatility pushed the June position into the red with a P/L of -$580, delta = +$27 and theta =+$76.

The question of the hour is whether this market correction has touched bottom or not. The pattern of trading on Monday and today of trading down to intraday lows and then recovering are signs of a reversal in the trend, but predicting the market is anything but a science. It seems to me that the debt problems of Greece boiling over into a global crisis have been overblown and resulted in the markets overlooking good earnings reports and modestly improving economic data here in the states. But it is unclear what news could reassure the markets and reverse this correction.