WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 08/02/12
Stock market averages are in the red, but battling off session lows late-Thursday. Volatility across Eurozone equity markets sent stocks broadly lower after the ECB concluded its meeting on monetary policy without rate cuts or bond buyback announcements. ECB President Draghi set the bar pretty high a week ago when he vowed to do whatever it takes to save the euro. So far, it seems to have mounted to nothing more than rhetoric. The euro, which had rallied to a high of almost 1.24 ahead of the announcement, lost .6 percent to 1.215 on the buck. Bond yields ticked higher again in Spain and Italy, while Spain’s IBEX tumbled nearly 5 percent and Italy’s MIB lost almost 4 percent. Events in Europe overshadowed the day’s domestic economic news, which included in-line jobless claims and a surprise -.6 percent drop in June Factory Orders. The data didn’t matter much. Stocks followed their European counterparts lower and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 120 points, but 76 points off session lows. The NASDAQ trimmed its loss to 14 points.
In the options market, volumes are up from the slow pace seen Monday through Wednesday and traders are still keeping a close eye on Knight Capital (KCG) after yesterday’s trading fiasco. 216,000 options traded on KCG so far, which compares to average daily volume (prior to yesterday) of about 275 contracts. Shares are falling to session lows, as headlines are now crossing that several firms, including ETFC and AMTD, have stopped routing orders to the firm. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters continues to see high volumes, as shares move higher on earnings news. Options on Mittal Steel (MT) were busy on news of an S&P downgrade. Kraft (KFT) and Pitney Bowe’s (PBI) are seeing bearish pre-earnings flow. AIG options are also actively traded ahead of its release. All three companies report after the bell today. Meanwhile, CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) hit a morning low of 17.74, rallied to 19.05, but is now down .86 to 18.1. Projected options volume for today is about 8.3 million calls and 7.9 million puts. Employment data is due out tomorrow morning.
Notable Flow
JBLU – Bullish flow detected in JetBlue Airways Corporation with 5101 calls trading, or 4x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $5.09 (0.02) with ATMIV lifting by 1.93 point and 91% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:21
PBI – Bearish activity detected in Pitney Bowes Inc with 10389 puts trading, or 2x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $12.795 (-0.455) with ATMIV lifting by 19.33 point and 79% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 12:31
FST – Bullish flow detected in Forest Oil Corporation with 6699 calls trading, or 2x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $6.23 (-0.49) with ATMIV lifting by 1.20 point and 65% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 12:21
DELL – Bearish activity detected in Dell Inc with 25339 puts trading, or 4x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $11.5 (-0.29) with ATMIV lifting by 1.56 point and 52% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 12:11
High options volume is being seen in FB, FSLR, HPQ, XLK, AIG, LNKD, ANR
Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
KCG 2.54 -4.40 -63.4% 6.91
HALO 4.30 -4.26 -49.8% 13.61
GNK 2.93 +0.84 +40.2% 8.57 Post-Earnings
ARO 12.76 -6.70 -34.4% 19.03
GMCR 22.92 +5.01 +28.0% 7.66 Post-Earnings
AVEO 9.75 -3.55 -26.7% 11.49 Post-Earnings
STAA 6.50 +1.36 +26.5% 3.85 Post-Earnings
CBM 11.18 +2.17 +24.1% 9.37 Post-Earnings
UNTD 5.18 +0.98 +23.4% 9.37 Post-Earnings
FSLR 18.13 +3.33 +22.5% 6.03 Post-Earnings
Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
ETP 18.6% +6.5 +54.0% N/A $43.80 -0.94
PBI 73.2% +23.9 +48.5% N/A $13.03 -0.22 Pre-Earnings
GMCR 74.0% -63.8 -46.3% -53.0 $22.95 +5.04 Post-Earnings
WTW 43.1% -33.9 -44.0% -41.2 $43.28 -5.51 Post-Earnings
NAV 99.2% +27.1 +37.6% +20.3 $20.92 -3.85
VRX 42.4% -23.2 -35.3% -22.4 $47.12 +0.23 Post-Earnings
YELP 73.7% -38.9 -34.6% -38.1 $22.15 +3.33 Post-Earnings
PWR 24.5% -12.8 -34.2% -8.2 $23.82 +1.35 Post-Earnings
FCN 33.6% -15.9 -32.1% -21.0 $23.26 -1.89 Post-Earnings
ITRI 36.7% -15.8 -30.1% -17.8 $42.20 +3.92 Post-Earnings
52-Week Highs
36 new highs: ABT ACAS CBM CMCSA CMCSK DK G GGP GILD GPS GPX HEP JAH KNDI MDAS MIC MMP MON NEU OCN OILT PMT PRAA QLTI SMBL SRDX SSI STZ SXC TFM TIP TLLP TSO TWC TWX WMGI
52-week Lows
127 new lows: ABFS ACLS ACTG AERL AIN AMD ANAD ANF APEI APOL ATML ATPG AUO AVEO AVP AVX AXTI BPAX BV CACH CALX CBAK CCO CECO CEDC CKP CMVT CS CTIC DBB DDMG DELL DNDN DRWI DTSI DWSN EDMC ELNK ENG ESI EXPD EXPR EZPW F FB FCN FRM GEVO GME GNW GRPN HALO HPQ HSH HSII IGT IM INFN ISIL ITMN IVAC IVC JKS JOBS JRJC KCG KEM KOS KV/A LINC MANT MM MPO MRCY MTG MTSN MWW NAFC NAV NFLX NOR NRP NTLS NTRI NXTM NYMX ODP OIIM OMG ONCY PACB PBI PPHYL PPO RBA REDF RSTI RXN SCSC SEE SHI SM SNE SOCL SORL SPU SQNM SSD TG TRLG TSL TSTC TTWO TWGP UAM ULBI ULTR USTR VC VE VNDA VRNT WRC WTW XYL YGE ZNGA
Top Equity Blocks
2.34m ARNA 7.48 +0.02 +0.3% 12:42:10
2.10m CIM 2.15 -0.02 -0.9% 15:09:15
2.00m BBVA 6.17 -0.50 -7.5% 10:20:10 – Average Price Trade
2.00m BBVA 6.17 -0.50 -7.5% 10:19:22 – Average Price Trade
1.90m RDN 3.05 -0.39 -11.3% 12:51:07 – Out of Sequence
1.50m SPY 137.70 -1.19 -0.9% 15:22:17 – Average Price Trade
1.45m ARNA 7.48 +0.02 +0.3% 12:42:10
1.26m TI 8.38 -0.36 -4.1% 11:00:55 – Average Price Trade
1.00m SPY 137.70 -1.23 -0.9% 15:24:23 – Average Price Trade
1.00m SIRI 2.11 -0.04 -1.9% 15:10:34
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.
