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Markets opened higher and SPX tried to break its old intraday high, but didn't quite make it. The consensus among the talking heads was that the bullish impetus was Italy finally forming a government. In any case, the bullish trend continued with SPX up $11 to close at $1594 and RUT gained $7 to close at $942. VIX remains low at 13.7%, but trading volume fell off markedly today with only 1.9 billion shares of the S&P 500 stocks trading. Trading volume fell 9% on the NYSE and decreased 8% on NASDAQ.
This bull run continues on the back of reasonable corporate earnings (but weaker this quarter) and the Fed's QE programs. The market averages are in lofty territory, so we are subject to an unexpected "bad" event. The correction could be nasty. A possible candidate is this Friday's jobs report. But the markets shrugged off last week's disappointing GDP report, so it is hard to predict. It may be a good idea to buy some protection in the form of SPX puts for your stock and option portfolios.The current low levels of volatility make protection cheap and, if we have a significant pull back, the spike in volatility will cause the value of those protective puts to sky rocket.
My iron condor on RUT for May stands at a P/L of +$1,400 (+8%) with delta = +$10 and theta = +$56. This condor is positioned well with 17 days to go until expiration. The 1010/1020 call spreads are just under two standard deviations OTM and the 840/850 put spreads are about two and a half standard deviations OTM. We may see some lazy sideways trading action this week as traders anticipate the jobs report Friday.
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First quarter GDP growth was reported this morning at an annualized rate of +2.5%. This was, to my mind, a pretty good result, and certainly much better than the fourth quarter's anemic +0.4%. But economists were expecting +2.8% and some were even expecting increases of 3 to 3.5%. SPX opened weakly and then rebounded, only to sink to its intraday low at $1578. But then it rebounded and closed at $1582, down only $3. RUT dropped $5 to close at $935. After such an unrelenting rise over the past several sessions, today's pause wasn't too surprising. Trading volume also fell off significantly, further supporting the idea that there is no reason to panic over this decline. Trading in the S&P 500 declined with 2.3 billion shares changing hands today and trading volume on the NYSE declined 11%; trading on NASDAQ declined 14%. Volatility remains unchanged with the VIX at 13.6%. All in all, it was a slow day on the street.
My May iron condor stands at a P/L of +$1,320 or +7% with position delta = +$23 and position theta = +$40. As a note to anyone new to my blog, I track the position theta of my condors because this is effectively the profit machine of the trade; it is a measurement of the gain in the position over the next 24 hours due to time decay. The position delta tells us how much risk we are incurring from a price move for the underlying index. In general, I like to see theta at levels greater than delta and ideally greater than twice delta. As position delta and theta values converge, it shows the pressure of stress placed on the position by the index moving too close to one side or the other of the condor. Thus, the current levels of delta and theta for this May position look pretty good.
Enjoy your weekend. It appears as though springtime may finally come to Chicago this weekend.
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SPX took a time out and rested today, closing unchanged at $1579. However, RUT gained $5 to close at $934. Trading volume was slightly up with 2.7 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading. Trading on the NYSE was up 1% and volume rose 1% on NASDAQ. VIX was essentially unchanged at 13.6%.
Durable orders declined 5.7% in March, not a good sign. The other ominous news concerned corporate earnings. Midway through the earnings announcements for this quarter, about 69% of companies reporting are beating the earnings estimates, but only 39% are beating revenue estimates. My interpretation is that companies have trimmed all their fat and that has helped secure their earnings, but now the general poor state of the economy is starting to take its toll on sales. The GDP numbers Friday will be watched closely. On a more positive note Goldman Sachs announced that they expect global growth to exceed 3% this year and predicted further gains for the equity markets.
My May RUT iron condor stands at a P/L of +$1,100 (+6%) with a position delta of +$27 and position theta of +$49. See you tomorrow...
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SPX continued its run to the upside, adding $6 to close at $1585. One
week ago, SPX bounced off support at $1540 and started a bullish run the
next day that continues through today's market action. SPX is nearing
the highs around $1595 set about two weeks ago. RUT closed up $6 at
$940.The markets hit intraday peaks around 2 pm ET and declined from
there but still held onto gains for the day. SPX hit a high of $1593
before turning back. Volatility remains relatively low with the VIX at
13.6%. Trading volume edged up with 2.8 billion shares of the S&P
500 stocks trading today. Trading volume increased 5% on the NYSE and
increased 13% on NASDAQ.
Initial unemployment claims decreased 16 thousand to 339k and continuing unemployment claims decreased 93k to three million. Meanwhile, we hit a new record of 8.9 million on disability.
My
May iron condor on RUT is up 6% with position delta = +$20 and position
theta = +$57. If RUT climbs a few more points, we will be perfectly
delta neutral with three weeks to go.
As I look at the SPX price
chart, it is interesting that we are duplicating the run SPX made
earlier in April, when it bounced off $1540 and headed higher to hit
$1595 and then turned down. Now we are retracing the steps higher. Will
SPX break out to new highs or be pulled back into the trading range?
The nervous profit taking we saw this afternoon may grow. Stay tuned.
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The strength of today's market impressed me. First of all, SPX opened at yesterday's close to start the day and then steadily climbed to close up $16 at $1579, only a few cents off of the intraday high. Similarly, RUT gained $15 to close at $929. Volatility dropped a full point to 13.5% and trading volume expanded with 2.6 billion shares of the S&P 500 trading today. Trading increased 11% on the NYSE and moved up 1% on NASDAQ.
Traders were spooked by an Associated Press tweet of a terrorist attack at about 1:10 pm ET, and that dropped the SPX $15, but that tweet was quickly discovered to be the result of a hacking incident at AP. Markets fully recovered within five minutes.
New home sales came in at 417k in March, up from 411k in February. The FHFA Housing Price Index increased 0.7% in February after a 0.6% rise in January. This further underscores the noticeable improvement in the real estate markets. But builders are struggling to take advantage of the improving demand picture. Builders, like other small businesses, are finding it difficult or impossible to get bank financing.
SPX is quickly closing in on its recent closing high at $1593 on April 11. That will be a crucial resistance level to watch as the bulls drive forward. It is hard to see anything bearish in this market - volatility keeps dropping and stocks keep trading higher. It isn't hard to find bearish arguments on CNBC and in other financial news, but the markets are trading higher. The lone dissent at this point is the Investors Business Daily with their Big Picture still holding a market posture of "Market in Correction". But that could change this evening; it is updated around 7 pm ET each evening.
My May iron condor position on RUT stands at a P/L of +$860 or +5% with position delta = +$21 and position theta = +$65. Both spreads are nearly two standard deviations out of the money (OTM), so this position is looking pretty solid with about three weeks to go until expiration. But this is a volatile market; that could change quickly.
