Stocks are indicated modestly higher on a rather slow news day Monday. Less than thirty minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures hint at possible 30 or 40-point early gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Stock index futures ticked higher following a day of gains in overseas markets. In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei jumped 2.7 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 2.4 percent. Benchmarks are seeing modest gains across Europe as well.

In the US, the economic calendar is light until home price and consumer confidence data tomorrow morning. Consequently, bonds are drifting lower in quiet trading. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is down 3/32nd and yields 3.79 percent.

The dollar slipped .15 to 91.13 against the Japanese yen. The euro edged down .0014 to 1.3617 against the buck.

Crude oil edged gained 25 cents and recaptured the $80 a barrel level. Gold lost $1 to $1121.

Among the stocks to watch, home improvement retailer Lowe’s (LOW) is up 1.8 percent after reporting a 14-cent per share quarterly profit, which topped analyst estimates by 2 pennies. Smith International (SII) rallied 7 percent on news Schlumberger (SLB) reached a deal to acquire the company for about $45.90 per share. SLB lost 4 percent. Wal-green’s (WAG) edged higher after being mentioned positively in the latest issue of Barron’s. Turkcell (TKC) fell after Goldman Sachs analyst whacked the stock with a sell rating.

Salient Pharmaceuticals (SLXP) is down $2.40 to $25.71 and implied volatility is moving after the FDA released briefing documents ahead of a Feb 23 panel meeting on Xifaxanor. The documents “raised questions about the evidence of efficacy of the study,” which seems to be one of the reasons for the weakness in the share price. Meanwihle, options volume is running 10X the average daily. Some investors seemed to be swapping Feb 30 for Mar 30 calls in early trading. March 25 puts and calls, Mar 30 calls, and Mar 22.5 puts are also seeing action, as investors jockey for positoin ahead of the FDA news. Meanwhile, implied volatility rallied about 14 percent to 115.

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

Big print in Comcast as the July $14 put and $17 call strangle traded 35,162 times for a $1.16 for the strangle. This appears to be a purchase but could be closing a position opened in early Feb.

CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is down .62 and testing the “psyche” level, as the S&P 500 shakes off early weakness and heads a few points higher on options expiration Friday. A noteworthy trade in VIX options earlier today was an Apr 25 – 37.5 (1X2) call ratio spread. This looks like a backspread where an investor sold 25000 Apr 25s at $2.39 to buy 50000 April 37.5 calls at 62 cents. If so, they collected $1.15 and might be closing or rolling a position. On the other hand, if it’s an opening backspread, it’s a bet that VIX will either 1) stay below 25 or 2) see a dramatic spike towards 40 by the April expiration.

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

Kraft (KFT) is up 22 cents to $29.03 and the big prints in the June puts and calls are part of a strangle. The investor paid $1.10 for the June 25 – 30 strangle, 21000X. It might close a short position as open interest is sufficient to cover in both contracts.

Smith International (SII) gapped up, hit a new 52-week high, and was recently up $4.36 to $37.71 after the Wall Street Journal reported Schlumberger might be interested in making a bid for SII. Options action is heating up as well. 15K calls and 10K puts traded in the first hour, or about 24X the typical levels. The top trade is 1000 Mar 35 calls at $2.75 and it was marked “tied”. So, possibly part of a buy-write. Most of the other action has been in smaller lots. Implied volatility is up about 4 percent to 42.