Markets opened weakly this morning, but then traded up and hit their intraday highs around noon and gradually traded off until the close. SPX hit a high of $1415, but closed at $1406, up $8. RUT followed the same pattern, but the afternoon losses were not contained; RUT closed at $816, down $1.Volatility dropped a bit with VIX closing down about half a point at 16.6% after hitting intraday lows at 16.0%. RUT's chart looks much more bearish than SPX with a classic shooting star candlestick today and closing right at the $815 support level. By contrast, SPX is well above support at $1390, even after trading off this afternoon.

Trading volume increased modestly with 2.7 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading today. Trading on NYSE rose 2% and volume rose 15% on NASDAQ.

The ISM manufacturing index came in at 54.8 for April, up from March's 53.4. Most analysts were expecting 53.0, so this surprise may have driven the strong trading this morning. This market continues to be characterized by a strong bullish undercurrent that minimizes the negatives and emphasizes the positives. Your overall trading posture should be cautiously bullish.

My iron condor on RUT for May stands at a P/L of +$1,260 with position delta = +$10 and position theta = +$67. The June condor stands at a P/L of +$300 with position delta = -$48 and position theta = +$77. So, in general, these positions are in pretty solid shape.