Another down day - it gives one pause. However, SPX is still holding up rather well. SPX closed down $4 at $1370, but that is still above where it opened yesterday and not far off of recent highs set for this year. On the other hand, RUT has been weak since early February and has not been following SPX's lead higher. Today, RUT broke down out of its recent trading range from $810 to $832. RUT lost $13 today to close at $802. The next support level for RUT is at the 50 dma at $790. Is RUT the leading indicator for this market? Keep an eye on the $1340 support level for SPX; if that breaks, we may be in for the long-awaited correction. On the other hand, the market rarely does what the majority expect.

Trading volume in the S&P 500 fell off significantly today to 2.3 billion shares. Trading was down 14% on the NYSE and down 8% on NASDAQ. Today was a slow day for economic news, so most analysts attributed the market weakness to concern over rising oil prices and the uncertainty in the Middle East (that's new?).

My Mar iron condor on RUT at 730/740 and 860/870 stands at a P/L of +$2,530 with position delta = +$5 and position theta = +$149. My Apr condor on RUT at 700/710 and 910/920 stands at a P/L of +$280 and delta = +$10 and theta = +$63. The recent decline on RUT has brought both of these positions back to delta neutral, so we are well positioned. March is now down to less than two weeks to expiration, so that position looks good. But markets can change quickly, so we will continue to watch our positions carefully.