Options Recap — 07/09/2012

Stock market averages are lower Monday on disappointing economic news from Asia and some pre-earnings jitters ahead of Alcoa’s (AA) results. Japan’s Nikkei slipped 1.4 percent after a report showed a sharp drop in the nation’s machinery orders. At the same time, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng suffered a 1.9 percent decline on a report that showed slowing inflation – yet another sign Asia’s largest economy is slowing. In Europe, investors remain on edge as Spanish bond yields ticked above 7 percent despite recent moves by European Central Banks to stem the crisis. In the US, the economic calendar is light during the first half of the week, but Alcoa unofficial kicks of the earnings-reporting season after the closing bell. However, the deluge of quarterly reports won’t begin until the middle of next week. Still, JP Morgan’s (JPM) results are likely to get some attention Friday morning, as investors attempt to gauge the impact of the bank’s trading losses on future earnings. Today, volumes are light, but the underlying tone is cautious and has a wait-and-see feel ahead of the second quarter earnings reporting season. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 66 points and the tech-heavy NASDAQ lost 14.2. CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is up 1.10 to 18.20. Only 4 million calls and 3.6 million puts traded across the ten exchanges so far.

Trader Talk

Second Quarter Earnings Kick Off: Alcoa
VIX “Cheap” ahead of Earnings — Bloomberg
Japan Machinery Orders Plunge. China Flatlines?
Hot Commodities:
Crude: +1.28, $85.73
Natural Gas: +10, $2.88
Gold: +12, $1591
Silver: +.48, $27.40
Corn Pops
San Francisco Fed President John Williams says Fed is ‘on the edge’ of needing third round of bond purchases — Briefing
Fed’s Williams: Fed Stands Ready To Do What’s Needed To Aid Economy 11:45. Current Period Requires ‘Extraordinary Vigilance’ — Dow Jones

Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
AGP 88.84 +24.50 +38.1% 13.92
CEDC 3.67 +0.92 +33.2% 9.36
BPI 15.32 -6.18 -28.7% 14.09
CNC 34.71 +5.78 +20.0% 3.15
MOH 27.27 +4.20 +18.2% 3.16
WCG 62.00 +9.17 +17.4% 4.92
LMNX 20.36 -3.99 -16.4% 6.97
QCOR 57.81 +7.58 +15.1% 5.40
TROX 109.50 -18.36 -14.4% 3.90
ATRS 4.87 +0.61 +14.3% 3.85

Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
AGP 7.2% -31.6 -81.3% -57.5 $88.84 +24.50
OCN 35.5% +7.8 +28.1% +4.4 $19.29 -0.03
FCN 36.5% +7.2 +24.5% +1.0 $27.47 -1.66
EZCH 54.2% +9.6 +21.6% +6.7 $36.63 -2.14
SAN 49.1% +8.7 +21.5% +3.6 $5.94 -0.13
AGN 21.8% +3.5 +19.1% +1.9 $92.00 -1.70
CAG 14.1% +2.2 +19.0% +1.2 $25.34 -0.38
MOH 58.7% +9.3 +18.9% +1.1 $27.27 +4.20
LNKD 53.7% +8.1 +17.8% +4.9 $103.20 -5.66
ETP 16.5% +2.5 +17.8% +0.9 $45.12 +0.05

52-Week Highs
65 new highs: ABT AGNC AGP AKRX AMTG APOG ATRS AWR BDSI BMRN CASY CBL CHD CVG DHI DK DLR DYAX EHTH ELT EXAS EXR FSIN GGP GPRO GR HW INCY INFI ISIS JMBA KRC LOPE MDCO MDF MGAM MHO MO MRK MUSA MWIV NSM OCN OHI OMPI OSUR PCYC PSB PSEC QCOR RAI RAVN SBAC SNAK SNTS SPPI SPSC SSNC STEI SUSS THRX TJX UNF WMT ZIOP

52-week Lows
39 new lows: APKT BPI BRFS BSDM CHGS CHKP CTRP CWTR CYOU ENERQ ENVI ENZ FCN FLIR FNFG FOSL GEVO HMIN JAG JNPR KOS KV/A MEET MRVL NIHD NOK NYMX PLCM RIC ROVI RVBD SONS TROX VC VTUS WAVX WBMD WLT WTW

Top Equity Blocks
1.95m F 9.37 -0.13 -1.4% 09:50:43 – Burst
1.30m QLTI 7.60 +0.03 +0.4% 10:50:57 – Burst
1.25m NOK 1.85 -0.07 -3.6% 11:34:34 – Average Price Trade
1.08m HRB 16.12 -0.03 -0.2% 09:56:13
824k NWSA 22.03 -0.12 -0.5% 14:27:12
820k BX 13.00 -0.11 -0.8% 12:58:18 – Tied to Options
759k SONS 1.95 -0.10 -5.1% 12:12:58 – Burst
600k MRK 42.20 +0.69 +1.7% 14:33:31
550k FMCN 22.00 -0.29 -1.3% 10:36:23 – Tied to Options
500k AMLN 30.75 -0.01 -0.0% 11:55:42

Notable Flow

BX – Bullish flow detected in Blackstone Group LP with 20234 calls trading, or 5x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $13 (-0.1) with ATMIV lifting by 1.61 point and 100% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:01
AGN – Bearish activity detected in Allergan Inc with 2460 puts trading, or 8x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $92.21 (-1.49) with ATMIV lifting by 3.54 point and 81% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 12:51
JNPR – Bullish flow detected in Juniper Networks Inc with 8002 calls trading, or 3x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $15.18 (-0.4) with ATMIV lifting by 4.29 point and 55% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 12:41
SHAW – Bullish flow detected in Shaw Group with 6432 calls trading, or 6x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $27.73 (-0.4) with ATMIV lifting by 7.81 point and 66% of todays call premium trading offer side. Auto Content (Trade-Alert) 11:41
MMM – Bearish activity detected in 3M Company with 5975 puts trading, or 2x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $88.67 (-0.32) with ATMIV lifting by 1.42 point and 63% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 11:31
CEDC – Bullish flow detected in Central European Distribution Corp with 2453 calls trading, or 23x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $3.6605 (0.9055) with ATMIV lifting by 7.80 point and 75% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 11:21

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Category: Market Update