The news that the EU leaders had struck a deal to infuse additional cash into Spain's banks rallied the S&P futures significantly. Early this morning, it looked like the markets were likely to rally very strongly with at least a 10 or 20 point day on the S&P 500. But markets opened upward and abruptly turned downward. And it got pretty ugly during the last two hours of trading. SPX closed near its low for the day at $1309, down $17. RUT closed down $18 at $751. Trading volume was flat to slightly higher with 2.5 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading. Trading on the NYSE was up 8% and volume increased 6% on NASDAQ.

The VIX jumped over two points and closed at 23.6%. You might say this is closer to the "bad neighborhood".

My June iron condor on RUT at 690/700 and 880/890 stands at a P/L of +$1,800 with delta = +$32 and theta = +$297. Even after the dramatic loss on RUT this afternoon, the 690/700 put spreads are over two standard deviations OTM. If this late afternoon sell-off continues, we may be forced to close the put spreads after all. I had assumed they would expire worthless, but that isn't as clear now. My July iron condor at 610/620 and 750/760 stands at a P/L of +$1,420 with delta = -$3 and theta = +$61.

This is an extremely difficult market to trade. The intraday volatility is unnerving. Trying to discern a direction and trade it is nearly impossible as the market turns on a dime. A former neighbor is a big game hunter and he says one of the most dangerous game is the wild boar in Missouri and Arkansas. Apparently the boars stalk the hunters. It feels like this market is hunting the traders. Non-directional trading looks more and more attractive, but that isn't a cake walk either.