Your daily option s trading wrap up. Sentiment Stock market averages are down
for a third day. Economic data weighed on early trading after ADP reported that
the economy added 179,000 private sector jobs in April. The number, which fell
short of economist estimates by 21,000, comes two days before the Labor
Department releases its key payroll report. Meanwhile, crude oil is also falling
for a third session on bearish weekly inventory data. Crude was recently down
$1.85 to $109.20 a barrel. Gold gave up $22.3 to $1518.20. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average has given up 80 points, but is now 55 points off session
lows. With 40 minutes left to trade, the tech-heavy NASDAQ is down 9.5. The CBOE
Volatility Index (CBOE: VIX ) is up .43 to 17.13 amid defensive trading in the
options pits, with 8.6 million calls and 8.4 million puts traded so far. Bullish
Flow STEC (NASDAQ: STEC ) shares are up 4.2% to $20.23 and options order flow in
the storage device maker is bullish. 8,940 calls and 490 puts traded in STEC so
far. The top trade is a 230-lot of STEC Aug 18 Calls at the $3.70 asking price.
It was part of a multi-exchange sweep of 1,245 contracts and an opening buyer,
according to International Securities Exchange data. Volume approaching 7,000
contracts. Open interest is only 64. Looks like opening buyers of STEC Aug 26
Calls as well. The company announced today "the availability of its 128MB
16GB MACH2+ CompactFlash (CF) embedded SSD, which are designed to deliver an
advanced level of data integrity, reliability and performance to the embedded
systems market." But it's not clear whether the news is driving the unusual
options activity. Earnings, due May 10 (after market), might be a factor as
well. The top equity options trade so far today is in Citigroup (NYSE: C ) after
an investor sold 30,000 C Jan 5.5 Calls at 9 cents. It was part of a ratio
spread. 10,000 C Jan 4.5 Calls were bought at 42 cents. The strategist paid 15
cents for the 1X3 spread and is probably targeting a move towards $5.5 in Citi
shares through mid-Jan. 2012. Shares are flat at $4.52. Find more option
analysis and trading ideas at Options Trading Strategies . Bearish Flow Its been
another day of heavy trading in the iShares Silver Fund (NYSE: SLV ). Shares are
trading down $1.78 to $38.80 and volume is approaching 1.5 million contracts.
Silver (July) lost another $2.87 to $39.73 and has now tumbled 18.3% on the
week. The sharp decline in the metal follows a nearly 80% surge since
late-January. Now, players are scrambling to adjust positions. The top trades in
SLV are part of a spread. An investor sold the SLV May 36 38 Put Spread at 76
cents, 25,000 times, and might be closing or adjusting an existing position. May
36 and 38 puts are the most actives. May 35, May 40, Jun 35 and June 39 puts are
heavily traded as well. Implied Volatility Mover Murphy Oil (NYSE: MUR ) is down
2.7% to $72.64 and MUR May 70 Puts are seeing interest ahead of earnings. 4,680
traded (82% on the Ask) versus 2,330 in open interest. Implied volatility is up
6% to 34.5. Shares of the oil refiner are on a three-day 6.2% skid ahead of the
results, which are due out after the closing bell. Options Flow Bullish flow
detected in KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC ), with 5116 calls trading, or three times
the recent average daily call volume. Bullish flow detected in Alpha Natural
Resources (NYSE: ANR ), with 27,097 calls trading, or three times the recent
average daily call volume. Bearish activity detected in Raytheon (NYSE: RTN ),
with 5009 puts trading, or five times the recent average daily put volume.
Increasing volume is also being seen in Intel (NASDAQ: INTC ), MGM Resorts
(NYSE: MGM ), and GM (NYSE: GM ). 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment