Sina.com (SINA, news, chart, volatility) is seeing relative weakness and options activity is running two times the usual Monday. Shares of the Shanghai, China Internet company are down to $26.00. There is no news to explain the $4.90 per share price drop or the uptick in volume in the December 25 puts. 3,480 contracts have traded, compared to open interest of 3,107. Two thirds of today’s volume is trading on the offer. Some investors appear to be buying these puts on concerns about further downside in the stock price. Implied volatility has lifted to 90, from about 70 late Friday.

Morgan Stanley (MS, news, chart, volatility) implied volatility is up. Shares are down $2.69, or 18.2 percent, to $12.06 after Credit Suisse cut earnings estimates and the Wall Street Journal highlighted the company in an article titled “Morgan Stanley Blitzed Into Banking”, which said the company is exploring a variety of scenarios to increase deposits including acquisitions of regional banks. Shares have given up about half of the 60.3-percent gain tallied from 11/20 to 11/28. In the options market, 28,000 MS calls and 16,000 puts have traded. Implied volatility is back up to 155, compared to 118 late Friday.

Chip equipment maker Altera (ALTR, news, chart, volatility) calls are active. 7,800 have traded, compared to 406 put options. All of the day’s action has come in fewer than 400 contracts and is focused on the March 15, March 17.5, and June 20 calls. With shares down 49 cents to $14.22 and no news, it looks like possibly closing trades and or bullish positioning for a move higher in the stock during the first quarter 09.

3M (MMM, news, chart, volatility) seeing aggressive put buying today, with more than 11,000 Dec 65 puts trading as shares slump 4.5% to 63.92. A number of multi-market sweeps were used to pay from 2.90 to a peak of 3.75 while shares drifted lower. Implied vols lifted 12 points in the process, to nearly 60% at the strike.

Calls on Ford Motor (F, news, chart, volatility) are actively traded for a second day. Friday, the December 2.5 and January 3 call options saw an uptick in activity. Today, another 37,000 Ford calls have traded, almost 10 times (920 percent) the expected volume for this time of day. Shares are up 20 cents to $2.89 and investors are snapping up December 3 and December 4 calls on news the automaker might be in talks to sell its Volvo unit (AP). The automaker said Monday it expects the review of its Swedish unit to take several months. It, along with GM and Chrysler, will go before Congress in an ongoing quest for loans Tuesday. Monthly auto and truck sales might also shake things up for the automakers tomorrow.

Target (TGT, news, chart, volatility) options lead the retail sector with more than 40,000 contracts trading in the first half hour and two large trades on the ISE just before 10am. Data indicates a customer bought 10,000 April 32.5 calls for 7.10 when shares were near 32.42. A minute later 15,000 April 45 calls traded for 2.50 and 15,000 April 22.5 puts for $3, likely a strangle sold for a net price of 5.50 to help finance the long call buy. The hedge for the package was crossed on the MidWest, 400,000 shares of stock at $32.37. This bullish trade works out best for the customer if shares climb but do not exceed the 45 strike by April.

Marvell Technology (MRVL, news, chart, volatility) is down 42 cents to $5.38 amid general weakness in the tech sector. Yet, sentiment in the options market is leaning on the bullish side, with 10,000 calls and only 536 puts traded. The May 5 calls are the most actives. 5,460 have traded, compared to open interest of 1,082. A little more than half (56 percent) has traded offerside. May 7.5 and December 7.5 calls are also seeing interest. Implied volatility is up from 95 late Friday to 100 ahead of an earnings report due out Tuesday after the closing bell.

Manufacturing Activity Falls to 26-Year Low

Construction Spending Slides 1.2 Percent

NVidia (NVDA, news, chart, volatility) December 10 calls are seeing buying interest, with 2,250 contracts traded and 100 percent of the day’s volume trading on the offer. Directional sentiment based on early order flow in NVDA is 94 percent bullish. With open interest of 22,968 it could be closing. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy as it comes ahead of a conference call tomorrow after the closing bell.

The US Oil Fund (USO) is down $1.00 to $41.09 per share after crude oil slipped $3.59 to $50.84 a barrel. Crude is down after OPEC decided to hold off on production cuts until its official meeting in mid-December. However, USO, an exchange-traded fund that tracks crude oil with futures, is up from its session lows of $40.83 and sentiment in the options market is leaning on the bullish side. The December 42 and 44 calls are the most actives after a firm bought the spread 1,500 times for 85 cents.