WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 08/14/2012
Better-than-expected Retail Sales numbers failed to spark much of a rally and market action has been mostly rangebound heading into the final hour of trading Tuesday. Data released this morning showed Retail Sales up .8 percent in July, and .6 percent better-than-expected. PPI was up .3 percent and .1 percent more than expected. Bonds took the news hard and the benchmark ten-year Treasury lost half a point. The ten-year now yields 1.725 percent, from 1.4 percent just a few weeks ago. Yet, stocks edged higher and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is also getting a lift from Home Depot’s (HD) better-than-expected earnings. Stock indexes were mostly higher overseas as well, with a .8 percent advance pacing the advance across the Eurozone. Crude oil ticked 74 cents higher to $93.47 per barrel, but gold lost $11 to $1601.5 an ounce. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has traded in a narrow 55-point range and is up 20 points. The NASDAQ is flat.
Options volumes are respectable today, with about 6.7 million calls and 4.8 million puts traded across the exchanges so far. Almost 1 million contracts of the call volume is due to ex-dividend trading in CVX, WAG, DUK and a handful of others. Groupon (GRPN) is seeing high volume, as shares since 27 percent on an earnings miss. Staples (SPLS) and Cisco (CSCO) are seeing increasing activity ahead of their profit reports. Both companies report tomorrow. There have been a lot of three-way spreads traded in a number of different individual stocks this week – some bullish and others bearish. ANF, SPLS, SM are but a few. Meanwhile, after closing at its lowest levels since June 2007 yesterday, CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is up .96 to 14.66 – even as the S&P 500 Index adds .70 points to 1,404.81 in very quiet market action Tuesday. CPI, NY Manufacturing, Industrial Production and NAHB Housing Index due out Wednesday morning.
Notable Flow
NCR – Bearish activity detected in NCR Corp with 2659 puts trading, or 6x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $22.31 (-2.81) with ATMIV lifting by 8.24 point and 74% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 11:31
STP – Bullish flow detected in Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd with 2387 calls trading, or 5x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $1.01 (-0.03) with ATMIV lifting by 13.76 point and 92% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 11:21
ERIC – Bullish flow detected in Ericsson with 20401 calls trading, or 13x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $9.52 (-0.08) with ATMIV lifting by 2.66 point and 100% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 11:01
High options volume is being seen in CVX, CSCO, DUK, WAG, EMR, GRPN, SPLS, APC, UTX, BA
Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
ENVI 2.45 -3.25 -57.0% 12.26
GRPN 5.52 -2.03 -26.9% 4.35 Post-Earnings
ROYL 2.10 -0.71 -25.3% 12.99
KORS 49.44 +7.09 +16.7% 7.03 Post-Earnings
ANGI 11.23 -2.06 -15.5% 4.17
CIE 23.51 +2.73 +13.1% 5.05
SYNC 7.82 -1.17 -13.0% 1.26
VELT 7.89 +0.85 +12.1% 2.63 Post-Earnings
ARNA 8.11 +0.87 +12.0% 2.76
KIOR 7.05 -0.93 -11.7% 2.59 Post-Earnings
Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
GRPN 93.8% -84.6 -47.4% -99.7 $5.52 -2.03 Post-Earnings
EL 26.7% -20.0 -42.8% -15.2 $60.85 +5.84 Post-Earnings
NCR 39.3% +11.5 +41.4% +2.1 $22.87 -2.25
DKS 26.4% -17.3 -39.6% -18.7 $48.41 -2.13 Post-Earnings
KORS 46.3% -29.5 -39.0% -20.3 $49.44 +7.09 Post-Earnings
PRX 4.0% -2.5 -38.3% -2.5 $49.85 -0.02
NAT 37.1% +9.5 +34.6% N/A $12.88 -0.03
ANGI 70.4% +16.4 +30.4% +3.3 $11.23 -2.06
HD 18.0% -7.7 -29.9% -5.2 $54.87 +2.05 Post-Earnings
TJX 19.3% -8.3 -29.9% -7.2 $44.91 +0.67 Post-Earnings
52-Week Highs
115 new highs: .OEX .VSTRP .XEO ACAS AGU APH ARCC ARCT ARIA ASH ASPS ASTI AWR BBCN BIP CBB CBL CBM CBS CBS/A CHL CHTR CINF CLGX CNI CNO COV CP CPB CRUS CSM CVG CVX DTN EWS EXH FAF FEIC FFIC GEO GIL GOOG GY HD HFC HLSS HMSY HNZ HSNI HSY HW ICUI IVW JAH JKHY KALU LBTYA LKQ LL LNDC LSE LYB MAIN MAT MGAM MIC MITT MMP MR MX NCT NOC NOW NSM NVO NVS NYT OCN OEF OKSB OSIS PCRX PDLI PHB PKG PM POR PPHM PRI PSTI PUK RCI RMD RTH RWT SIRI SPB SPNC SSI STZ SUSS SVXY TCAP TGT TLLP TSO TWC VYM WDC WGO WMC WNR XHB XOM YTEC
52-week Lows
42 new lows: .VXEEM ALC ANAD ARX CDXS CGEN CRNT CWST DHT DOG DXD ENG ENVI ERY ESI FSG GRPN GSE HSII KID LEDS LPR MKTS MPO OTT PRGN PSQ QID REDF RSW SDOW SDS SH SNMX SPP SPXS SPXU SQQQ TC TW UAM UBNT
Top Equity Blocks
7.50m SMFG 6.29 -0.23 -3.5% 11:25:56 – Average Price Trade
3.00m NOK 2.43 -0.17 -6.5% 10:17:14 – Average Price Trade
2.00m CNP 20.55 -0.03 -0.1% 13:57:59
1.20m BBVA 7.00 +0.03 +0.4% 10:51:54 – Average Price Trade
1.20m BBVA 7.00 +0.03 +0.4% 10:51:22 – Average Price Trade
1.09m CNP 20.55 -0.03 -0.1% 13:58:13
1.00m SPY 140.76 +0.36 +0.3% 12:23:02 – Average Price Trade
1.00m SPY 140.76 +0.43 +0.3% 12:00:35 – Out of Sequence
1.00m CIM 2.41 +0.02 +0.8% 12:02:47
1.00m TWX 42.50 -0.17 -0.4% 11:45:42
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.
