The markets traded up again today on conflicting economic news, and the major indexes closed at the their highs for the day, just like yesterday. This action would normally be seen as very bullish, but trading volume dropped dramatically today with a 22% drop on the NYSE and a 16% drop on NASDAQ. Only 3.5 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks traded today, down from 4.2 billion yesterday and well below the 50 day moving average at five billion shares. This makes me wonder about the strength of this rally. Economic news was mixed with retail sales disappointing by dropping 1.2%, but the University of Michigan Consumer Confidence Survey came in at a two year high.

RUT closed up $9 at $649 while the SPX closed at $1092, for a gain of $5. Both indexes are now just above the midpoints of their recent consolidation ranges. Today's rally in RUT pushed both my June and July iron condors into positive territory. The June position now stands at a P/L of +$256 with position delta of +$50 and theta = +$247; July stands at a P/L of +$1140 with position delta of +$6 and theta = +$78. So now we wait to see what Monday brings; this market is very susceptible to headline risk at this point. So the weekend could bring some surprises. The decreasing trading volume of the last two days concerns me; this seems like a rally that lacks conviction.