Diamond Foods (DMND) loses 49 cents to $37.31 and it appears that one or more investors has been building a position in Feb 30 – 35 put spreads on the snack food company today. The top trade is 3,021 Feb 30 – 35 put spreads for $1.65 on NYSE-Arca and apparently an opening trade. The spread has traded several more times on ISE, where data indicate a buyer is indeed opening a position. More than 6000 traded so far. Separately, it looks like Feb 45 – 50 call spreads are being bought on DMND for about 60 cents, 1000X. Players are taking positions in short-term options on DMND, possibly a play on earnings. However, while some sources have Feb 9 as an earnings release date, that has not yet been confirmed and it is more likely that results will be reported next week or possibly after the Feb expiration. The heightened activity might instead be related to a federal probe into the company’s accounting of how much it paid walnut producers. The company expects conclusion to the investigation some time in mid-Feb.

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

Yahoo (YHOO) loses a penny to $15.81 and one strategist sells 10,000 Jan 12.5 puts on the Internet giant at 89 cents and 17,500 Jan 20 calls at 57 cents — possibly exiting a trade and/or betting that the stock will stay between $12.5 and 20 through the Jan 2013 expiration. Why not. YHOO has been trading sideways in a narrow range for months and is basically at the same levels today as it was 2 years ago. Separately, it appears Jun 16 – 19 calls spreads are being sold on Yahoo at $1, 9750X on AMEX. It’s possibly closing or a position adjustment. Meanwhile, implied vols in YHOO have eased 1.5 percent to 26 Tuesday and are not far from the 52-week lows of 25.9 set Friday.

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

Barrick Gold (ABX) edges 17 cents higher to $49.34 after gold rebounded from recent losses and is trading up $11 to $17.36 an ounce. Options action in the gold miner today includes a 4150-lot of Feb 50 calls for 57 cents at around 10:00 when the market was 53 to 55 cents. Thirty minutes later, after shares had lifted about 40 cents to $49.09, a multi-exchange sweep of 1,483 contracts traded for 73 cents. Data indicate customers are buying to open Feb 50 calls on ABX. More than 10,000 now traded and the market is 87 to 89 cents. Feb 49, Weekly 49, and Weekly 50 calls are seeing interest as well and levels of implied volatility in ABX options are up 3 percent to 31. Bullish trading comes ahead of a Feb 16 earnings report, which is the Thursday before options-expeiration Friday (but after the 2/10 weekly expiry).