From Steve Smith. Bon Ton (BONT) shares added 30c to $18, a new 52-week high, and option volume rose to 5x the daily average Friday. Shares of the apparel retailer have gained some 70% in the past four weeks and over 130% since their February low. Friday’s notable trade is in the July $17.50/$20 call spread traded 8,750x in what appears to be a roll higher; selling to close the $17.50 calls – a position opened on 4/12 when stock was around $15.60 – and buying the $20 calls for a 95c net credit. (Open interest data confirm this was a roll and part of a series of adjustments in a bullish trade that can be traced back to an April – July 10 call spread on 2/12 when shares were at $8.41.)

Stocks are indicated modestly higher following a round of mixed stock news Monday. Thirty minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average might add 20 or 30 points in early trading.

Caterpillar (CAT) will help the Dow. Shares are up 4.4 percent after the maker of earth moving equipment reported a quarterly profit of 50 cents per share, which beat Street estimates by 11 cents. The company also raised its 2010 forecast and said the economy is definitely improving.

Meanwhile, Humana (HUM) is up 4.5 percent on strong earnings. Hertz (HTZ) rallied 12 percent on news it will buy rival Dollar Thrifty (DIG) for $1.37 billion. DIG gained 7 percent. Citi (C) shares lost 2 percent after the US Treasury approved plans to sell part of the government’s stake in the company.

Research in Motion (RIMM) and Oracle (ORCL) will hold analyst meetings. Texas Instruments (TXN) reports earnings after the closing bell.

With no economic data to guide today’s trading, bonds are seeing gains amid ongoing worries about percolating problems in Greece’s debt markets. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is up 6/32nd and yields 3.79 percent.

The euro slipped .0008 to 1.3337 against the buck. The dollar edged up .17 to 94.23 on the yen.

Finally, in the commodities market, crude oil added 13 cents to $85.25 a barrel and gold rose $3.3 to $1157 an ounce.

Some less actively traded names seeing bullish order flow: TICC Capital (TICC), Sara Lee (SLE), Black Hills (BKH) Bearish order flow: PF Changs (PFCB), Prepaid Legal Service (PPD), Zoran (ZRAN) Post-Earnings: Amazon.com (AMZN), Schlumberger (SLB), Western Digital (WDC), American Express (AXP), Xerox (XRX), Rambus (RMBS), Capital One (COF), Synaptics (SYNA), International Game Tech (IGT) Pre-Earnings: Caterpillar (CAT), TI (TXN), Humana (HUM), Radioshack (RSH), Masco (MAS) Ex-div.: Clorox (CLX)

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

AspenBio Pharma (APPY) has been ripping higher in recent days, as investors await trial results for their flagship AppyScore, a blood-based test designed to aid in the evaluation of appendicitis, expected during the first week of May. Shares are up 50 cents to $3.80 and have rallied more than 50 percent on the week. Options activity has picked up with each day as well. 180 calls traded Monday, 81 Tuesday, 1,700 Wednesday, 1,820 Thursday, and 2,030 so far today. The action today is in the June and May 5 calls, with some investors buying to open positions ahead of the results. Implied volatility, which jumped from 122 to 217 Tuesday through Thursday, has eased back towards 200.

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Yamana Gold (AUY), the Toronto-based gold miner, is up 18 cents to $10.38 after gold reversed early losses and added $11.80 to $1154.10 an ounce. In AUY options, 27K calls traded in the name Friday. The volume represents 3X the typical activity and compares to 2224 puts. May 11 calls have traded more than 16K and includes several lots at the 17-cent asking price. May 10 and June 11 calls are seeing interest as well. Implied volatility is up about 3 percent to 34.5 ahead of a May 3 (after market) earnings report.

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

Transocean (RIG) shares are down $2.20 to $88.09 and implied volatility in RIG options has been climbing after a massive Transocean oil rig, operated for a consortium led by BP, caught fire Wednesday, then sunk Thursday in 4500 feet of water. 11 workers are still missing and feared dead. The environmental impact is uncertain. The US Coast Gaurd said today that the Deepwater Horizon rig does not appear to be leaking. Nevertheless, the uncertainties are weighing on RIG shares and options volume is running almost 3X the expected for late-morning trading. 7500 calls and 7340 puts traded. The top trade is 444 May 95 calls at $1, a possible premium seller liquidating a position as the contract falls $7 out of the money. Meanwhile, implied volatility has risen another 6 percent to 33, from about 28 before the story broke Wednesday.