The S&P futures looked modestly positive or flat just before the market opened this morning, but trading turned bearish in a hurry. SPX lost $24 to close at $1359 and RUT closed down $19 at $784. Trading volume spiked up with 3.3 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading; trading volume increased 40% on the NYSE and increased 43% on NASDAQ. As always, there was no shortage of talking heads wanting to explain why the bears took charge today. Many cited the report of a trade surplus in China that resulted from weaker imports.That suggests a slowdown in China's economy; this factor, coupled with Spain's increasing bond yields, fed the fear of some traders that the global economy is slowing.

Take a look at the price chart of RUT. Today's downward price movement appeared to settle and bounce at the support level established in early March at about $785. Whether that support level will hold is difficult to predict. But it does tell me that if RUT opens below $785 in the morning, I will be very concerned about the market trading even lower before it stabilizes. The earning season kicked off this evening with Alcoa. Alcoa beat both revenues and earnings estimates and Alcoa was trading higher by 5% in after hours trading. Will that be sufficient to slow the bearish trading we saw today? We'll see.

My Apr iron condor on RUT dropped in value a bit, primarily due to the volatility spike upward today. At the close, it stood at a gain of $2,340 with delta = +$23 and theta = +$81. I hedged my May condor and it now stands at a net loss of $1,040 with delta = +$3 and theta = +$1. I hedged this position reasonably strongly to be sure this bearish truck doesn't roll over me tomorrow. You can see that in the delta neutrality of the position, but also in the small positive theta of the position. So I have given myself time to see if the market settles down or reverses without incurring outsized risk while I am waiting. Hedging yourself always beating waiting and hoping!