WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 08/16/2012

Stock market averages are holding solid gains and near session highs heading into the final hour of trading Thursday. Cisco Systems (CSCO) is up 10.3 percent and giving both the Dow and the NASDAQ a lift after the networking giant’s earnings topped Street expectations. Walmart (WMT) is down 3.2 percent and the Dow’s biggest loser on the heels of the world’s largest retailer’s earnings report. But, market breadth is positive following solid gains across European equity markets. Spain’s IBEX led the advance with a 3.3 percent jump. The euro edged up .6 percent to 1.263 against the dollar after Germany’s Merkel reiterated recent pledges to take necessary steps to save the euro. The domestic economic news was mixed. Jobless Claims increased by 2,000 and a bit less than expected last week. Housing Starts fell to an annual rate of 746K in July, but Building Permits – A better gauge of future activity– unexpectedly jumped to 812K. Philli Fed fell to -7.1 for August and worse than the -5.0 that was expected. Yet, crude oil prices gained $1 to $95.33 per barrel and gold added $11.5 to $1618 an ounce. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 100 and the NASDAQ gained 36.

Overall volumes in the options market are higher today heading into expiration Friday. 8 million calls and 6.7 million puts traded across the exchanges so far. The five most actives are August options on the SPDR 500 Trust (SPY). At the top of the list: more than 204,000 August 142 calls traded on the SPYders (try symbol @all in Flow Monitor and then 4 to see the most actives). Facebook (FB) is seeing heavy trading, as shares fall now that the post-IPO lock-up period has passed. 143 million shares and 463K options traded in Facebook today. CSCO is seeing heavy post-earnings flow. Well-timed put buyers surfaced in ST Jude Medical (STJ) this morning ahead of negative headlines this afternoon related to the company’s defibrillators. Electronic Arts (EA) and Coinstar (CSTR) are seeing high volume after two separate NY Post stories sparked private equity talk in both companies. Meanwhile, CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is down .22 to 14.41 ahead of Leading Indicators and Univ of Michigan sentiment data tomorrow.

Notable Flow
BKS – Bearish activity detected in Barnes and Noble Inc with 2759 puts trading, or 2x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $12.435 (-0.105) with ATMIV lifting by 2.90 point and 67% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 11:11
QIHU – Bearish activity detected in Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd with 2259 puts trading, or 2x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $18.12 (0.42) with ATMIV lifting by 1.94 point and 69% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 10:31

IDIX – Bullish flow detected in Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc with 3608 calls trading, or 3x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $5.89 (-2.42) with ATMIV lifting by 2.52 point and 77% of todays call premium trading offer side. Auto Content (Trade-Alert) 10:21
High options volume is being seen in CSCO, AIG, HUN, SINA, EA, WMT, MFC, MRVL, IYR, GME

Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
IDIX 5.72 -2.59 -31.2% 5.79
CCRT 6.29 +1.27 +25.3% 7.28
OTT 2.10 -0.46 -18.0% 1.39
BTH 43.24 +6.15 +16.6% 5.88
PERY 18.71 -3.56 -16.0% 5.30 Post-Earnings
VQ 11.01 +1.48 +15.5% 4.94
BMTI 4.00 +0.52 +14.9% 4.76
NTES 49.70 -8.48 -14.6% 7.94 Post-Earnings
GTAT 6.09 +0.70 +13.0% 5.37
SINA 56.32 +5.42 +10.6% 2.98 Post-Earnings

Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
PETM 18.2% -27.9 -60.4% -10.8 $70.42 +2.98 Post-Earnings
PLCE 23.9% -34.8 -59.3% -12.7 $55.86 +4.29 Post-Earnings
VQ 45.1% -55.4 -55.1% -29.5 $11.01 +1.48
DLTR 22.5% -25.7 -53.3% -10.4 $49.27 -0.73 Post-Earnings
BKE 28.8% -29.7 -50.7% -11.9 $41.75 +1.72 Post-Earnings
GME 37.4% -38.1 -50.5% -14.2 $18.00 +0.95 Post-Earnings
NTAP 35.3% -35.2 -50.0% N/A $32.92 +1.17 Post-Earnings
MIPS 63.4% -53.3 -45.7% -21.2 $6.08 -0.50 Post-Earnings
IQNT 27.9% -22.4 -44.6% -7.9 $11.70 -0.18
AMAT 19.9% -15.7 -44.1% -4.7 $11.96 +0.17 Post-Earnings

52-Week Highs
156 new highs: .HGX .OEX .VSTRP .XEO ACAS ADI ADP AFCE AGU AMG AON AOS APH ARCC ARCT ARRY ASFI ASH ASPS AWR BAM BANR BBCN BIP BRLI BTH BWS CBB CBE CBL CBS CCRT CDNS CF CHH CINF CLGX CNI CNO CNQR COV CP CPWR CRMT CSM CTAS CTB CTGX CVA CXW CYNO CYT DFS EGHT EGOV EQM EXH EXP FAF FBHS FFCH FLS FLT FSTR FXEN GIL GOOG GTIV GY HD HLSS HRS HSNI HSTM IHS IR ITB ITW IVV IVW IYZ KCAP LEN LL LPX LYB MAIN MDC MENT MMM MMP MTX MX MYL NCT NEU NGG NNN NSM NTCT NVS NWN NYT OEF OKSB PAC PCYC PDCO PDLI PEP PETM PHM PKG PRI PSTI PSX PWR RBN RCI RMD RNF RPT RTH RWT SAFT SBS SDY SEIC SEMG SIM SIRI SNPS SPNC SRZ SSI SSP STI STX SXL TCAP TLK TOL TYC VIAB VIG VPFG VRSN VYM WAC WDC WNR WY XHB XL XLK XOM

52-week Lows
32 new lows: .GVZ BCOV BGCP BLDP CWH DOG DXD ENVI EPV ERY FALC FB GOK GRPN HSII KID LPR MCP MIDZ OTT PSQ QID RSW SDOW SDS SH SIJ SPXS SPXU SQQQ TZA VLCCF

Top Equity Blocks
4.00m ZNGA 3.00 -0.06 -2.0% 11:35:41
2.46m SIRI 2.58 +0.03 +1.2% 11:54:00
2.40m ATML 5.83 -0.06 -1.0% 13:08:23
2.00m YHOO 14.97 +0.21 +1.5% 14:45:43
2.00m ZNGA 3.00 -0.06 -2.0% 10:05:07
2.00m VXX 11.58 -0.17 -1.4% 15:08:52
1.85m SPY 140.96 +0.88 +0.6% 14:00:31 – Derivatively Priced
1.57m VWO 41.55 +0.43 +1.0% 14:31:45 – Average Price Trade
1.54m CSCO 19.02 +1.67 +9.6% 14:14:33
1.50m QQQ 67.22 +0.92 +1.4% 14:53:27

Tags: Earnings, market update, Sentiment

Category: Market Update