Your intraday option s trading update. All in all a moderate morning as Joseph
Cusick, senior market analyst with OptionsXpress, says that stock volume this
week has been very low on both the NYSE and the NASDAQ. "That's in
anticipation of the Fed meeting tomorrow." Eyes have been on the iShares
Silver Trust ETF (NYSE: SLV ) after it rose yesterday to 45.83 on massive volume
of nearly 190 million shares. Options trading volume was about 1.5 million
contracts yesterday, said Cusick. This morning SLV is down more than 3.4% to
44.26. "That's partly profit talking after a parabolic move to the upside.
The swing has been amazing," said Cusick. Traders are not talking large
positions in SLV due to its unpredictable nature but they are trading it as
speculators. "The action is in gold and silver, not stocks as we saw earlier
in the earnings cycle," said Cusick. High Options Volume by Strike
Citigroup (NYSE: C ) leads in strike volume with its C Jun11 4.5 Call trading
89,419 contracts and falls .02 to .14. The iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF
(NYSE: IWM ) is up with the IWM May11 83 Put trading 58,781 contracts as the
strike falls .41 to .74. The IWM at 85.50 trading very near its 52-week high of
85.67 as it rises today 1.36%. Most of the rest of high volume is in the good
old SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY ) as it moves up 1.20 to 134.84. Volume seen in
SPY May11 139 and 137 Calls, and the SPY May11 133 Put and AprWk5 134 Put. Older
brother S&P 500 Index Options (CBOE: SPX ) trades some contracts in its SPX
Jun11 1340 Put, down 5.38 to 27.00, and its SPX Jun11 1330 Put, down 6.00 to
22.00. Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM ) is a major equity option contract trader with its
YUM Jan12 50 and 55 Calls and Yum Jan12 45 and 40 Puts. The four YUM strikes
each trade about 32,000 contracts. Major Stock Trading Volume Movers Lawson
Software (NASDAQ: LWSN ) is down .98 to 11.15 on nearly 28 million shares.
Private equity firm Golden Gate Capital teamed with software firm Infor and will
pay $2 billion to acquire Lawson for $11.25 a share. Lawson had been looking for
a higher bid after the two buyers made a bid in March. Wilshire Bancorp (NASDAQ:
WIBC ) hit a 52-week low as it traded down more than 18% to 4.13 on 1.7 million
shares. Bank reported losses of $52 million in the first quarter. Gulf Resources
(NASDAQ: GFRE ) trades down 1.26 to 2.59 on 8.8 million shares. Option traders
have been circling this dropping stock, according to reports. GFRE manufactures
bromine and crude salt for the China market. Find more option analysis and
trading ideas at Options Trading Strategies . Stocks/Underlying – Big
Daily Change in Option Volume Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM ) trades 133,916 option
contracts as the stock drops .75 to 52.45. That's about 2,300% more contracts
than normal. YUM reports it has made a preliminary bid to buy the Chinese
restaurant firm Little Sheep Group. YUM already owns 27.2% of the company based
in Inner Mongolia. Cusick notes traders coming at the stock from two directions.
Yesterday RBC upgraded the target stock price of YUM to 59 from 56 while today
the cost of the acquisition has interested sellers. "Both sides of the market
are playing today," said Cusick. Trading of puts to calls is nearly 50-50
today, he said. McGraw Hill (NYSE: MHP ) sees 12,287 options trade as stock
drops .68 to 38.91 as earnings send mixed signals. OptionMONSTER reports a
possible four-part options trade with the sale of 2,000 contracts in both the
MHP Aug 34 Puts and Aug 36 Puts, along with same 2,000 contract apiece purchase
in the MHP Aug 41 Calls and Aug 43 Calls. The trader collected premium and will
see profits if MHP trades above 41, according to OM. Stocks – High
Put/Call Ratio Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS ) sees its Put/Call ratio reach
173.00 as stock rises 1.23 to 45.04 Another finance firm, though in a little
different class, TCF Financial (NYSE: TCB ) has a P/C of 70.31 as this stock
also rises, up .26 to 15.56. Tomorrow is ex-dividend date. Taking Care of
Business earnings yesterday were so-so but generally in line with analyst's
expectations. Stocks/Underlying – High Option Volume SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE:
SPY ) racks up 776,349 contracts as it rises 1.21 to 134.85. The iShares Silver
Trust ETF (NYSE: SLV ) is down after yesterday's rally. SLV drops 1.79 to
44.04 on 559,538 option contracts. The iShares Russell 2000 Index ETF (NYSE: IWM
) is up and trades 204,072 contracts. Ford (NYSE: F ) trades 167,805 options as
stock rises .40 to 15.94 on solid earnings report. Our yummy friends Yum Brands
(NYSE: YUM ) trades 134,000 options as stock falls following its announced plan
to buy out a Chinese partner. Burney Simpson is the managing editor of
InvestorPlace options pages.
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