Disappointing GDP data drove the market down at the open, but reassuring Chicago PMI and consumer sentiment data appeared to bolster attitudes and all of the major market indexes ended the day unchanged. Second quarter GDP came in at positive growth of 2.4%, but that was down form the 3.7% of the first quarter - this reinforced the double dip viewpoint camp. But then the Chicago PMI came in at 62.3, up from 59.1 and the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment for July came in higher at 67.8 (from 66.5 last month). Both of these numbers were pleasant surprises to analysts. RUT closed unchanged at $651 and SPX closed unchanged at $1102. It is worth noting that RUT again touched its 200 dma at $640 before rebounding today. That price action is building a case for support at that level. All of this back and forth to an unchanged close occurred on lower trading volume. The S&P 500 stocks traded 3.7 billion shares, down from yesterday and well below the 50 dma. Trading on the NYSE was down 4% and was down 9% on NASDAQ.

My Aug iron condor on RUT at 510/520 and 550/560 and 680/690 and 705/715 stands at a position delta of-$87 and theta = +$134, not ideal, but still in the game. My multiple adjustments on this position have almost exhausted my profit potential. The Sept condor on RUT at 530/540 and 740/750 is still young with delta = -$12 and theta = +72.

Today's trading conference in Chicago was excellent; you can download the slides for my presentation in the Downloads section under Webinars. Have a great weekend and remember: if you are thinking about your trades this weekend, you probably aren't managing the risk appropriately!