Star Scientific Options Up, Cameco Down

Your daily option s trading wrap up. Market Sentiment Stocks slumped on worries about the economic impact from the last week's devastating earthquake. Japan's Nikkei plummeted more than 6% Monday and stocks were broadly lower across Europe before the opening bell on Wall Street. With no earnings of importance or economic data released Monday, there wasn't much other news to drive trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell at the open and, despite a brief midday rally attempt, is down 105 points heading into the final hour. The tech-heavy NASDAQ lost 22.4. The CBOE Volatility Index (CBOE: VIX ) gained 1.76 to 21.84. Options volume is light, with 7.1 million calls and 6.4 million puts traded so far. Bullish Flow The surge in Star Scientific (NASDAQ: CIGX ) continues. The stock is up another 58 cents to $3.53 and has now rallied 92% in the past week. Options action continues as well, with some investors now showing interest in the CIGX April 4 Calls with 2500 traded versus 188 in open interest. March 3, Mar 4, April 3, May 2, Aug 3 and Aug 4 calls are also seeing interest Monday. 19,000 calls and 1680 puts now traded in CIGX. Implied volatility is up another 6% to 157 and has increased by 65% in the past week. CIGX options saw a noticeable increase in action beginning last Tuesday and the action continued throughout the week, including on Friday when the stock surged on news of a favorable patent decision. Bearish Flow Cameco Corp. (NYSE: CCJ ) gapped at the open and is off $6.42 to $30.96 on concerns about quake-related damage to Japanese nuclear reactors. A number of other names in the uranium space — Denison Mines (Amex: DNN ), Uranium Energy (AMEX: UEC ), USEC Inc. (NYSE: USU ), HudBay Minerals (NYSE: HBM ), Uranium Resources (NASDAQ: URRE ) — are also suffering steep losses on concerns about delays in new projects, shortages, and falling uranium prices. CCJ is reeling and options volume is four times the daily average. CCJ Mar 33 and Mar 38 Calls , which are now well out-of-the-money, are the most actives. CCJ Mar 29 and Mar 30 Puts are seeing interest as well. Implied volatility surged 60% to 60. Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM ) shares are off another $1.41 to $61.95 and have tumbled some 13% in the past four weeks. Notable transactions today are in the RIMM June 80 Call in which 13,000 contracts are purchased at $1.01 while the RIMM Sep 65 Call sees 5,000 contracts sold at the $6.25 bid; in addition the RIMM May 80 Call trades a total of 6,400 contracts in what looks like opening sale. If this is spreading for a net credit that would take on a bullish profile if the May calls expire worthless as one would be left with a Jun/Sep 3×1 back spread. RIMM is slated to report earnings March 24. Implied Volatility Mover USEC (NYSE: USU ) loses 54 cents to $4.62 on concerns about the deepening problems at Japanese nuclear reactors. USEC supplies low-enriched uranium to nuclear power plants and the fallout from last week's quake could be a game-changer for the industry. Shares are under pressure and the top trade of the day is a 4,400-contract block of USU Oct 6 Calls on the 25-cent bid, which appears to be an opening call write. The contract is almost 30% out-of-the-money after today's move. Mar 4 puts, Oct 5 calls, Jan 4 puts, and Oct 5 calls are seeing interest as well. Implied volatility is up 17.5% to 54. Frederic Ruffy is the Senior Options Strategist at Whatstrading.com , a site dedicated to helping traders make sense of the complex and fragmented nature of listed options trading.
Negocioenlinea
tdp2664
gol2664
InvestorPlace