US Retail Sales Surge Catches Traders Off Guard Ahead of Open
US retail sales just posted a sharp rebound, jumping three point seven percent month over month and reversing the prior four point three percent drop. This beat signals consumers are still spending despite the geopolitical noise from Iranian strikes on UAE targets and fresh UK sanctions on Russia linked networks. For Iron Condor traders, the short put side looks compressed with downside risk fading on this risk on flow while the short call side remains capped as S and P five hundred futures hover near seven thousand two hundred. Bitcoin breaking toward eighty one thousand is reinforcing that risk appetite. VixShield's RSAi is holding its balanced strike on tariff friction while the ALVH stays on standby with the VIX now down to seventeen point seven. That's keeping the EDR contained and Temporal Theta working in our favor. Watch European stocks for any spillover from the von der Leyen pushback on Trump's auto tariff threat. That's going to be interesting to watch. Russell's Morning Outlook — coming up soon.