Apart from the burst of excitement in Jefferies this morning, overall volume is relatively slow today and on pace for 15.6 million contracts, or 83% of the recent adv. Financial services are one sector that is busy, and Morgan Stanley leads that list with several large premium sales printing on the ISE earlier today. 12 min into the day was a seller of 5000 Jan 15puts for 1.20 to open when MS was trading near 17.23, then at 11am an opening cust seller collected 3.20 for 10000 April 17puts tied to 460K shrs at 16.34, and last was a sale of 5000 Jan 16 straddles for 4.30, also marked opening cust on the ISE.

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

Pre-earnings action in Skyworks Solutions (SWKS) seems somewhat bullish, as shares of the chipaker are up $1.13 to $20.21, implied volatility in the options is down, and call volume is dominating the flow. 18,000 calls and 2,090 puts traded in the name so far. Dec and Nov 20s, which are 21 cents in-the-money, are the most actives. 3,000 traded in both contracts (6K total) and about two-thirds of the flow is trading at the offer. Nov 23, Dec 18, Nov 22, Nov 18 and Nov 19 calls on SWKS are seeing interst as well. Implied volatility in SWKS options is easing 5.5 percent to 85.5, even as the company is due to report after the closing bell today. However, implied volatility had been moving higher in recent days and is up 24 percent from a week ago. The stock was on a five-day 10.8 percent losing skid prior to today.

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

Mmmmmm donuts… Krispy Kreme call volume of nearly 3700 contracts (vs 50puts) is well above average for the name and is dominated by Feb 5 calls, currently 32% in the money and trading for an avg price near $2.48. Buyers are opening and may be implementing a stock replacement strategy as shares (and implied vols) are near the middle of their 52wk range.

Denbury Resources (DNR) adds 49 cents to $16.50 on better-than-expected earnings and Nov 17 calls are seeing interest early-Tuesday. 7030 traded at a VWAP of 60 cents per contract. The market is now 50 to 65 cents and open interest is 16,313. Implied vols in the options on the stock is down 27.5 percent to 59 and some investors are likely liquidating positions opened yesterday when Nov 17 calls on the Plano, TX oil and gas company were being bought at 45 cents (see 11/2 color – premium).