WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 08/08/2012
Seesaw action, but narrow trading Wednesday. The S&P 500 slipped below 1,400 early and then has vacillated in out of positive territory since that time. Stocks are struggling to forge new gains amid a lack of volume and a dearth of relevant news items. The only economic stat was Q2 productivity and in-line with expectations. A handful of second tier names, Macy’s (M), Dean Foods (DF), and Skywest (SKYW), are up on earnings. Crude oil slipped 16 cents to $93.51 per barrel and gold is up $3 to $1616 an ounce. Trading was mixed overseas, with modest losses suffered across key Eurozone equity markets after several days of big gains. Likewise, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has traded in a narrow 88-point range and is down five points heading into the final hour. The NASDAQ lost 7.
Light volume in the options market today. 4.2 million puts and 6.3 million calls traded across the exchanges so far. The relatively low P/C ratio, of .68, reflects the improved sentiment seen during the past few weeks. VIX is off .36 to 15.63 and mired near range lows. Among the individual names seeing interest, Apple Computer (AAPL) options are heavily traded ahead of the company’s first dividend payment in 16 years. 1.2 million calls traded on AAPL so far. Large bullish trades surfaced in MetLife (MET) December options for a second day. RIM saw a flurry of activity this morning on reports Samsung is possibly set to use the company’s BB10 operating system. The most actives today are SPY Aug 140 puts, SPY Weekly 140 puts, and QQQ Sep 64 puts, as some players probably view the cheap vols (low VIX) as an opportunity to buy some downside put protection. Yet, there’s not much volatility in the market this week and the backdrop is remarkably different than a year ago today – when the S&P plummeted 80 points on Aug 8, VIX hit its 2011 high of 48, and options volumes hit their highest levels on record.
Notable Flow
SIRI – Bullish flow detected in Sirius XM Radio Inc with 35532 calls trading, or 5x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $2.415 (0.115) with ATMIV lifting by 3.46 point and 59% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:01
TSN – Bullish flow detected in Tyson Foods with 13533 calls trading, or 5x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $16.17 (1.4) with ATMIV lifting by 6.07 point and 80% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:41
PSX – Bullish flow detected in Phillips 66 with 30646 calls trading, or 5x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $39.89 (0.12) with ATMIV lifting by 1.15 point and 93% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 14:41
High options volume is being seen in AAPL, RIMM, PCLN, XOM, HPQ, MET, WFR, JCP, IYR, DIS
Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
OTT 4.33 -3.05 -41.3% 46.36
DF 17.31 +4.89 +39.4% 13.69 Post-Earnings
OWW 3.44 -1.22 -26.2% 6.81 Post-Earnings
ENPH 4.94 -1.73 -25.9% 6.27 Post-Earnings
EZCH 29.25 -9.83 -25.2% 8.49 Post-Earnings
SKYW 8.27 +1.58 +23.6% 5.31 Post-Earnings
ENOC 8.34 +1.51 +22.1% 11.45 Post-Earnings
WG 5.59 -1.44 -20.5% 8.07 Post-Earnings
JIVE 15.54 -3.88 -20.0% 6.46 Post-Earnings
SEM 13.95 +2.11 +17.8% 6.43 Post-Earnings
Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
DF 35.9% -25.6 -41.6% -36.6 $17.31 +4.89 Post-Earnings
STEC 45.7% -28.0 -38.0% -30.5 $6.90 -0.62 Post-Earnings
SODA 57.1% -34.9 -37.9% -33.9 $41.00 -0.25 Post-Earnings
CREE 42.3% -24.2 -36.4% -21.7 $27.19 +0.85 Post-Earnings
RAX 39.0% -21.8 -35.8% -18.6 $53.59 +4.29 Post-Earnings
RL 29.6% -16.5 -35.8% -16.6 $152.15 -0.88 Post-Earnings
Z 57.3% -28.7 -33.3% -30.1 $38.49 -3.27 Post-Earnings
AH 57.9% -26.7 -31.6% -28.9 $11.42 -1.43 Post-Earnings
CSC 33.3% -14.4 -30.2% -10.1 $29.54 +4.02 Post-Earnings
DIS 17.4% -7.3 -29.5% -7.2 $50.38 +0.57 Post-Earnings
52-Week Highs
98 new highs: ACAS AGU ALJ ALL AMLN AOL ARCC ASPS BAM BANR BCE BIP BWS CBB CBE CBRL CF CNI CNO CONN CORN CSGS CSM CSOD CTB CVX DDD DF DIS DK DLX DMD ESRX FAF FFCH FFIC FIVE FL FXEN GEO GPS HIBB HMSY HRG HSNI HW IILG IOC JAH JKHY KALU KNDI LAMR LIOX LPX LYB MDAS MED MIC MLNX NEU NOC NYT OCN PDLI POWL PRI PSS RNF RPAI RTH SBS SEM SEMG SHW SIM SIRI SNI SSI STC STX STZ TGT TSO TU TV TWX VECO VLO VOD VPFG VRSN VSI WNR WR XL XNPT XOM
52-week Lows
28 new lows: ALC ALR APPY AVEO AXU BGCP CGX CTIC CZR ELON ENPH GSE GSI ITMN IVC MN NXTM ODP OTT PRMW PULS PWAV SHZ TESO ULTR USMO VIXM XTEX
Top Equity Blocks
5.00m SIRI 2.46 +0.16 +7.0% 14:43:13
3.00m SIRI 2.41 +0.11 +4.8% 13:22:11
2.50m SIRI 2.48 +0.18 +7.8% 15:13:21
2.50m SIRI 2.41 +0.11 +4.8% 11:39:20
2.50m SIRI 2.38 +0.08 +3.5% 11:31:31
2.32m SIRI 2.48 +0.18 +7.8% 15:04:29
2.00m SIRI 2.44 +0.14 +6.1% 12:01:18
1.99m GE 20.99 -0.13 -0.6% 12:53:36
1.83m SIRI 2.35 +0.05 +2.2% 10:39:54
1.50m SIRI 2.47 +0.17 +7.4% 14:10:48
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.
