The Standard and Poors 500 stock index (SPX) traded down a bit to $1396 during Friday's trading, but recovered to close at $1406, up $3. So SPX remains right at the resistance set back in May. RUT lost $1 to close at $802. Trading volume fell off with only 2.0 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading on the NYSE dropped 11% and trading volume on NASDAQ decreased 7%. 

There weren't many headlines or economic reports to move the markets Friday, so the debate about this market continues. The one camp sees no basis for the recent rally and expects a significant pullback any day. The other camp simply points to the chart and the pattern of higher highs and higher lows. SPX has been trading sideways since reaching this $1405 area earlier this week. A decisive break-out above $1407 would be very bullish. The bears tried to sell the market earlier Friday and traded SPX down to $1396, but could not hold it. So significant bullish support remains. Is this based on expectations that the Fed will announce another round of quantitative easing in September?

My Sept RUT iron condor position stands at a P/L of +$340 with position delta = -$80 and position theta = +$79 on 20 contracts. 

Enjoy your weekend.