The markets traded down today on a good jobs report - that is not a good sign. If the bulls can't take control when they get good economic news handed to them, what happens when we get the next bit of bad news from Europe? SPX lost $3 to close at $1278 and RUT closed at $750, down $3. So SPX manages to stay above the support level at $1270, but it appears to be just treading water. By contrast, RUT has not been able to break through the resistance at $755. Trading volume fell back today with 2.8 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading. Volume dropped 16% on the NYSE and decreased 8% on NASDAQ.

The jobs report for December came in very positively today with an increase of 200 thousand jobs and a decrease in the unemployment rate to 8.5%.

My Feb iron condor on RUT stands at a P/L of +$1,640 with delta = -$23 and theta = +$75.

Looking back at the first week of trading in 2012, one has to be impressed by the lack of direction in this market. It seems the bulls cannot make headway even with good economic data. On the other hand, the bears have not made their case stick either. My condors love this market.