WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 09/07/2012

The Dow and NASDAQ are under water heading into the final hour, but market breadth is net positive with basic material, energy and financials leading the S&P 500 to multi-year highs Friday. Advancers are outpacing decliners by a ratio of 2-to-1 on the Big Board, with 1950 NYSE stocks higher and 980 lower. The strength comes despite a disappointing employment report, that showed only 96,000 jobs created in August and July numbers were also revised lower. Intel (INTC) is down 4 percent and weighing on both the Dow and NASDAQ on disappointing guidance. However, stock market averages were mostly higher across the Eurozone for a second day after ECB President Draghi pledged Thursday to buy bonds until the crisis is resolved. On Wall Street, while the Dow is down 8 points and the NASDAQ lost 2, the S&P 500 has added 4.

Today’s projected volume in the options market is about 18.8 million contracts and about the same pace seen the day before. The flow reflects the bullish sentiment, with roughly 9.4 million calls and 6.4 million puts traded across the exchanges so far. BofA (BAC) calls are again seeing high volume, as shares gain another 38 cents to $8.73. 615,000 calls and 116,000 puts traded in the bank today. Morgan Stanley (MS) Jan 19 calls are among the most actively traded equity options Friday. 59,000 contracts changed hands. Today’s flow in the financials also included big buyers of Oct 16 calls on the SPDR Financial ETF (XLF). 165,000 through midday. Investors are also revved up about Ford (F) calls for a second day. 186,000 traded so far. Freeport McMoran (FCX) is shining in the materials sector, gaining $3.26 to $39.60, and 204,000 options traded on the miner. Gold rallied $34, silver is up more than $1, and copper gain 13 cents. Coal stocks are also hot and increasing activity is being seen in names like Arch Coal (ACI) and Alpha Natural Resources (ANR). ANR Weekly 6 calls, which were being bought for 3 to 4 cents Wednesday, are now trading for 90 cents heading into the expiration! ANR is up 98 cents to $6.89 and 46,000 calls traded on the stock. Finally, CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is down 1.11 to 14.49 and now a far cry from Tuesday’s high of 18.96. Trading is active in the VIX pit. 875,000 contracts so far.

Have a great weekend!

Notable Flow
APKT – Bearish activity detected in Acme Packet Inc with 10781 puts trading, or 4x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $19.63 (0.46) with ATMIV lifting by 2.49 point and 66% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 15:11

CSC – Bearish activity detected in Computer Sciences (CSC), with 8829 puts trading, or 19x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $32.77 (0.02) with ATMIV lifting by 2.50 point and 64% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:31

FOE – Bullish flow detected in Ferro Corp with 2483 calls trading, or 191x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $3.64 (0.24) with ATMIV lifting by 6.89 point and 71% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:01

High options volume is being seen in .VIX, BAC, VXX, GLD, XLF, F, INTC, C, FCX, MS

Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
PPHM 4.63 +1.56 +51.0% 4.22 Pre-Earnings
ZQK 3.60 +0.54 +17.6% 9.35 Post-Earnings
ENVI 2.21 -0.47 -17.4% 0.92 Post-Earnings
ANR 6.88 +0.97 +16.4% 3.34
MTL 7.01 +0.95 +15.7% 6.05
P 10.66 -1.91 -15.2% 3.93
CLF 40.01 +5.15 +14.8% 6.16
SWHC 10.21 +1.21 +13.4% 3.06 Post-Earnings
GMCR 27.63 +3.05 +12.4% 4.25
NOR 6.84 +0.75 +12.3% 5.92

Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
ULTA 29.0% -24.3 -45.6% -21.3 $101.72 +6.46 Post-Earnings
LULU 35.5% -23.5 -39.8% -16.3 $76.80 +8.20 Post-Earnings
SWHC 54.1% -34.2 -38.8% -32.6 $10.22 +1.22 Post-Earnings
KR 18.7% -10.3 -35.4% -10.7 $22.70 -0.40 Post-Earnings
VQ 36.4% -16.9 -31.7% N/A $11.73 +0.34
MIPS 81.8% +16.7 +25.6% +16.5 $7.34 +0.04
HCBK 18.9% -5.6 -22.9% -5.2 $7.54 +0.07
P 70.4% +12.9 +22.4% +11.9 $10.66 -1.91
THLD 106.7% +16.7 +18.6% +16.0 $8.58 +0.14
CVH 9.2% -1.9 -17.4% N/A $41.71 +0.29

52-Week Highs
378 new highs: .BSZ .HGX .OEX .SPX .SPXPM .SRO .VSTRP .XDC .XEO .XSP AAPL AAT AAWW ABG ACGL ACXM ADP ADS AEO AF AGU AIT AKAM AKR ALGN ALL ALXN AME AMG AMTG AMZN ANN ARI ASH AXS AYI AZZ BANR BBCN BBH BBT BDN BDSI BF/B BIIB BKD BNNY BONT BRK/B BUD BXP BXS CAB CAKE CB CBB CBE CBL CBS CBS/A CCE CCI CCOI CENTA CFN CFNL CHE CHS CLGX CLMT CM CMO CMRG CNO COO COST CRUS CSM CSU CTAS CTB CTFO CUZ CVBF CVG CVI CVX CXW CYBX CYS DCT DDR DDS DHI DIN DIS DISCA DLX DOX DRN DVY DX EAT EGOV EGP EMB EMN ENSG EPL ESC ETE EW EXP EXR FBHS FCF FDN FISV FITB FL FLS FNF FNV FR FRI FRP FSC FVE FXC GCVRZ GE GEO GERN GEVA GGC GIII GILD GLT GOOG GRT GTIV GY HBI HCC HD HEP HLS HOMB HPP HR HSNI HSTM HSY HTH HYG IAT IBB ICF ICUI IDXX IFGL IHS IIJI IJK IJR IJT IRET ISBC ITB ITW IVE IVR IVV IVW IWB IWD IWF IWN IWR IWS IWV IYH IYR JKHY JNK JNY JW/A KAR KEYW KFN KIE KORS KSU KWR LAD LBTYA LEN LKQ LLY LNKD LOPE LPS LPX LXP MAT MBT MDAS MDC MDSO MDY MIPS MITT MKC MMS MMSI MON MOV MPC MPG MRH MTB MTGE MTH MTN MTX MWA NDSN NDZ NEU NOW NRF NSR NTI NWS NWSA NYT OEF OHI OMC OMN OMX ONB OSK OXM PAG PAYX PCH PCY PDFS PEB PFF PG PGF PHB PHG PHM PIR PKG PKI PPH PPHM PPP PSX PUK PVH PVTB QGEN QLD RAX RCI REM RF RGA RGLD RMD RPAI RPM RRMS RSU RTH RWT RWX RYL RYN SAH SCHG SCS SDY SEIC SHO SHW SIM SJM SMA SNA SNV SNY SPB SPF SPLK SPXL SPY SQM SSI SSO STAG STAN STC STI STKL STWD SUSQ SVXY SWHC SWKS SYA TCAP TCBI TDC TDG TFX TICC TMH TMK TMO TQQQ TR TS TSCO TSO TUES TWX UA UGA ULTA UNFI UPRO URBN URE USB USG VAL VB VBK VBR VCIT VCR VDC VHT VIG VLO VMED VNQ VOE VOO VOX VQ VRX VTI VTV VUG VV VXF VYM WES WFC WRI WSM WXS WYN XHB XL XLP XLV XLY XNPT XOM XRT

52-week Lows
58 new lows: ABFS ADTN AONE ATPAQ CAH CRNT CWH DDMG DOG DPK DRV DUG DXD EFU ENG ENPH ENVI EPV ERY EUFX FAZ GLL GOK LIWA MANU MIDZ MZZ OTT PGNX PLUG QID RSW RWM SDOW SDS SEF SH SIJ SKF SMDD SORL SPXS SPXU SQQQ SRS SRTY STP TEO THQI TWM TZA USU UVXY VIIX VIXM VIXY VXX VXZ

Top Equity Blocks
5.43m EWG 22.43 +0.44 +2.0% 14:27:34
5.20m MU 6.42 -0.26 -3.8% 09:47:14
5.00m NOK 2.53 +0.07 +2.8% 11:59:47
4.00m VXX 9.56 -0.43 -4.4% 10:43:38 – Tied to Options
2.93m MU 6.28 -0.40 -5.9% 14:05:45 – Burst
2.50m MU 6.28 -0.33 -4.9% 14:02:36
2.29m AMD 3.47 -0.19 -5.2% 13:53:53
2.10m SRZ 14.30 -0.05 -0.3% 14:08:43
2.08m SPLS 11.47 11:49:49
2.00m KFT 40.25 -2.06 -4.9% 10:52:39 – Tied to Options

Tags: featured, market update, Sentiment

Category: Market Update