Options Recap — 7/11/2012
Stock market averages slipped through midday and then the selling intensified in afternoon action when minutes from the latest FOMC meeting were released. While the text didn’t hold any material surprises, the knee-jerk reaction on Wall Street reflects diminishing expectations for another round of easing. Fed officials pledged to offer additional accommodative measures as necessary, but also said they expect gradual economic recovery later this year. Stock market averages, which had traded a bit lower in lackluster action ahead of the news, fell sharply shortly after the minutes were released at 2:00 EDT. Beyond that, it’s been a rather light news day. The only economic stats of the day – Trade Balance and Wholesale Inventories – were in-line with expectations and had minimal market impact. Crude oil is up $1.80 to $85.70 per barrel, but gold lost $9 to $1571 an ounce. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is off 85 points. The NASDAQ lost 25. With an hour left to trade, CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) has given up its gains and is down .18 to 18.54. Overall options volumes are light, but reflect the negative underlying tone. 4.5 million calls and 4.8 million puts traded across the exchanges so far.
Trader Talk
PFG Collapse – Details Emerge
Citi Opens Books in Wake of Peregrine — Bloomberg
Corn Crushed as Fed’s Declare Drought Emergency. Volatility Continues
Chart
EUR/USD at Two-Year Lows: 1.2213 — Chart
Commodities Mixed:
Crude Oil: +$2.20, $86.11
Gold: -$6, $1573.80
Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
OPTT 3.71 +1.65 +79.9% 30.50
HGG 7.46 -4.08 -35.4% 17.94
GNOM 2.67 +0.63 +30.9% 5.27
CTEL 4.70 +0.79 +20.3% 0.98
OCZ 4.50 -0.95 -17.4% 3.29 Post-Earnings
AMRS 3.43 +0.49 +16.6% 1.93
VOXX 8.16 -1.61 -16.5% 8.13 Post-Earnings
ADTN 22.95 -4.24 -15.6% 7.20 Post-Earnings
SKYW 7.89 +1.03 +15.0% 7.03
PAY 35.41 +3.49 +10.9% 3.73
Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
ARR 26.6% +7.3 +38.0% +6.7 $7.32 +0.02
ADTN 39.4% -19.2 -32.8% N/A $22.98 -4.21 Post-Earnings
WM 25.0% +5.8 +30.0% -0.6 $31.12 -1.95
DTG 44.8% +8.8 +24.6% +7.6 $79.98 -2.33
ANGI 61.4% +9.1 +17.4% +8.5 $14.56 -0.94
VVUS 165.3% +24.4 +17.3% +20.1 $27.42 -1.01
TSCO 38.8% +5.5 +16.5% +2.3 $79.40 -4.20
AGP 3.8% -0.7 -15.2% -1.0 $89.63 +0.18
MJN 32.7% -5.6 -14.5% -5.1 $77.45 +2.16
DF 45.1% +5.7 +14.4% -0.1 $14.92 -1.13
52-Week Highs
36 new highs: AGP ALGT AMGN ATO AWR BDSI BRK/B CHD CLGX CNL DYAX EDE FCBC FRME HLSS HNZ HW IRDM KMB LCC MO MWIV OMPI OREX OTTR POR SEM SEMG SPB SUSS TGT THRX UNS WST WTR WY
52-week Lows
57 new lows: ABX ADTN AEC AUDC AWC BRFS CBAK CDE CROX CVVT CYOU EDMC EGI ENVI EXPD FCN FLIR FOSL FST FWLT GPRE GRPN GTI HGG HMIN JBT JCP JNPR JOY KEG KEYN LMNX LRCX MAKO MRVL MTOR NIHD PAAS PAL PCXCQ PLCM QTM R ROVI RVBD SLH SOHU SONS STXS SYMC TROX TTWO VC VTUS WBMD WLT XRA
Top Equity Blocks
3.54m TTWO 9.00 -0.05 -0.6% 12:05:02
3.30m S 3.23 +0.04 +1.3% 10:49:58
3.00m NOK 1.87 +0.06 +3.4% 10:13:33 – Average Price Trade
2.47m ABKFQ 0.02 -0.01 -21.9% 13:49:49
2.40m NOK 1.85 +0.05 +2.8% 10:44:03
1.80m RSG 26.35 -0.04 -0.2% 11:38:43 – Burst
1.05m CSCO 16.53 +0.11 +0.7% 12:03:11 – Tied to Options
1.04m ORCL 29.20 +0.21 +0.7% 12:04:12
1.00m NOK 1.85 +0.04 +2.5% 10:54:28 – Average Price Trade
1.00m NOK 1.85 +0.04 +2.5% 10:52:35 – Average Price Trade
Notable Flow
ARUN – Bearish activity detected in Aruba Networks Inc with 9167 puts trading, or 7x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $12.89 (-0.69) with ATMIV lifting by 2.11 point and 54% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 14:31
CHKP – Bearish activity detected in Check Point Software Technologies Inc with 7307 puts trading, or 5x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $44.56 (0.28) with ATMIV lifting by 1.54 point and 79% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:51
ANGI – Bearish activity detected in Angies List Inc with 2715 puts trading, or 5x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $15 (-0.5) with ATMIV lifting by 9.37 point and 96% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 12:31
High options volume is being seen in Barrick Gold (ABX), Century Link (CTL), and GoldCorp (GG)
Category: Market Update
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About the Author (Author Profile)
Frederic Ruffy is a well-known trader, writer, and strategist who has spent years educating investors and creating intelligent, insightful, unbiased market observations that are frequently cited by the Wall Street Journal and other financial publications. As senior analyst, Fred provides frequent and regular notes and daily updates for activity of interest.
