*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

Options Action heats up in Sirius Satellite (SIRI). Shares are up a dime to $1.06 and touched a new 52-week high. 19K calls and about 2000 puts traded. Action is brisk in Feb, Mar, Jun and Sep $1 calls. Jan11 $2 calls are seeing interest as well. No headlines today, but order flow seems to reflect bullish sentiment ahead of earnings, due out around Feb 25.

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

The top two trades so far today were part of a spread in Citi. Shares are up 7 cents to $3.38 on news Soros raised his stake in the bank (see 9:38 color) and 39,500 Jun 3 calls traded at the asking price 55 cents while 39,500 Jun 4 calls traded on the bid of 11 cents. The two blocks traded 5 min apart on the PHLX and are a debit spread at 44 cents (40000X total), according to an exchange-floor contact. If so, it’s a bullish play with a potential pay-off of 56 cents (excluding commissions) if Citi moves to $4 or more by the June options expiration.

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MannKind (MNKD) is up 19 cents to $10 and MNKD Feb – Mar 7.5 calls are among today’s most actively traded contracts. One player sold the spread 10000X at an average of 32.5 cents per contract and might be rolling a position from Feb to March — possibly an adjustment to an over-write ahead of this week’s expiration. More than 18K now traded.

Citi (C) is up 8 cents to $3.39 and 15.8K Jun 4 calls traded in the first 5 minutes. Looks like some premium buyers active in the name on reports Soros added 94.7 million shares of the bank. 42K calls and 4125 puts traded in Citi so far.

Stocks are indicated higher on better than expected housing data Wednesday. Less than an hour before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average might add about 40 points at the open.

Stock index futures rose Wednesday morning after the Commerce Department said that housing starts rose to an annual rate of 591,000 in January, up from 575,000 the prior month and better than the 580,000 economists expected.

Building permits, a better gauge of future activity, fell by 22,000 to 653,000, which was in-line with economists estimates.

Additional data and minutes from the latest FOMC minutes are due out later today. A report on industrial production, scheduled for 9:15, is expected to show an increase of .7 percent for January and a capacity utilization rate of 72.6 percent. The FOMC minutes could have market impact at 14:00 eastern time.

Bonds are lower ahead of the news and on the strong housing data. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is down 11/32nd and now yields 3.7 percent.

The dollar added .81 to 90.95 on the Japanese yen. The euro slipped .0055 to 1.3709 against the buck.

Crude oil added 20 cents to $77.21 a barrel and gold is flat at $1120 an ounce.

Among the stocks to watch Wednesday, Deere (DE) and Whole Foods (WFMI) are rallying on better-than-expected earnings. Dow component Caterpillar (CAT) is up in sympathy with Deere. Citi (C) is up 2 percent on reports Soros is buying shares. Citrix Systems (CTXS) might see early weakness after Citi analysts initiated the stock with a Sell rating.