The markets opened weakly this morning, but recovered quickly. SPX gained $5 to close at $1408 while RUT lost $2 to close at $830.  Trading volume was weak with 2.7 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading; volume was up 2% on both the NYSE and NASDAQ. The VIX calmed down today, closing at 15.5% after being up as high as 17% yesterday. Yesterday afternoon's bullish recovery from the lows earlier in the day and today's slight rise underscores the basic bullish nature of this market. RUT continues to trade in the sideways channel established in early February.

The University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey came in at 76.2 for March, up from 74.3 in February. However, the March value of the Chicago PMI dropped to 62.2 from the previous month's 64.0. All in all, today's economic data was basically neutral and not really market moving.

My April iron condor on RUT stands at a P/L of +$2,340 with position delta = -$3 and position theta = +$58 (20 contracts).

My working premise from earlier in the week appears to remain valid, viz., that this market's strong bullish run is basically working itself off via slow sideways trading, replacing the need for a significant correction.

Enjoy your weekend. Focus on the family and forget about the markets for a couple of days.