WhatsTrading Options Recap — 09/24/2012

Weakness across the Eurozone set the table for morning losses on Wall Street and, despite a feeble afternoon rally attempt, stocks are broadly lower heading into the final hour. Bumbling leaders in France and Germany voiced disagreement about the timeline for implementing plans to supervise the banking industry and the lack of consensus seemed to be the catalyst for the losses across European equity markets today. Spain’s IBEX slipped 1.1 percent to pace the decline and the euro dipped back .4 percent to 1.2925 against the dollar. With no domestic economic news to guide the action, US stocks followed their European counterparts lower at the open and trading has been choppy since that time. A 1.3 percent loss in Apple is weighing on the NASDAQ after iPhone 5 sales figures fell short of lofty expectations. The NAZ lost 15.9 points. JP Morgan (JPM) gained 1.1 percent and Pfizer (PFE) rose 1.2 percent to help the Dow to a 7-point gain. Market breadth is tilting a bit negative, with decliners leading advancers on the Big Board 16-to-13.

Projected options volume for today is about 14.7 million contracts and about a half million more than the recent daily average. 7.2 million calls and 5.7 million puts traded across the exchanges so far. SPDR Financials (XLF) continues to see high volume today, but the flow seemingly bearish after about 460,000 calls and 22,000 puts traded on the ETF. A hefty Dec 13 – 15 put spread was initiated on the fund this morning. The largest equity options trade on the day is a 60000-lot of Dec 60 calls on Viacom (VIAB). A hefty six-way spread trades in MetLife (MET), with an investor rolling a massive play from December to March. Yahoo (YHOO) $16 calls are busy on reports the company’s CEO will unveil corporate plans this week. CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is flat at 13.98.

Notable Flow

NSM – Bullish flow detected in NationStar Mortgage Holdings Inc with 6439 calls trading, or 3x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $32.15 (0.35) with ATMIV lifting by 2.96 point and 68% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert)

AVP – Bullish flow detected in Avon Products Inc with 15100 calls trading, or 12x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $15.96 (-0.18) with ATMIV lifting by 2.06 point and 61% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert)
FRX – Bullish flow detected in Forest Laboratories Inc with 24556 calls trading, or 33x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $36.5401 (0.8501) with ATMIV lifting by 2.62 point and 96% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert)

High options volume is being seen in XLF, MET, PM, XHB, IYR, WMB, VIAB, QCOR, PG, MU

Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
QCOR 19.49 -10.64 -35.3% 2.29
RMBS 5.85 +0.92 +18.7% 7.28
SVNT 2.92 +0.42 +16.7% 2.90
CCM 3.56 -0.61 -14.6% 4.38
AUDC 2.84 +0.35 +14.1% 3.10
SRI 5.15 -0.80 -13.4% 5.31
INSM 4.22 +0.47 +12.5% 5.11
MGPI 4.14 +0.44 +11.9% 3.87
VECO 31.39 -3.57 -10.2% 4.66
MSO 3.18 +0.29 +10.0% 9.15

Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
MDVN 160.1% +115.0 +255.0% +101.1 $53.03 +0.48
NLY 15.4% +6.6 +75.1% N/A $17.64 +0.08
CIT 34.5% +11.8 +52.4% N/A $41.45 +2.50
FMCN 58.1% +19.7 +51.5% N/A $22.82 -0.94
TIVO 36.3% -22.7 -38.5% -22.9 $9.94 +0.38
HTS 13.9% +3.4 +32.1% +3.3 $29.65 -0.02
GORO 40.3% +9.4 +30.3% N/A $22.12 -1.55
RMBS 65.0% +14.2 +28.0% +11.5 $5.85 +0.92
VVUS 73.3% +13.5 +22.5% N/A $18.95 -2.05
QCOR 137.4% +23.0 +20.1% N/A $19.59 -10.54

52-Week Highs
145 new highs: ACMP AEP AGII ALKS APP ARI ARTC ASGN ATAX AVD BAX BDSI BKMU BLMN BLX BMTI BOND BZ CALM CBEY CEB CFNL CHE CLSN CMCSA CMO COV CRY CSU CTFO DENN DORM DST DW DXCM EIG EPOC ESE EVER EXAM FCBC FIVE FNF FRC FRX GBLI GCI GEO GOOG GXP HCBK HOMB HTS HTWR HWAY IART IBN IDA IDXX IHF INFI IP IPXL IRM ISBC JAZZ JCOM KS LAMR LANC LBTYA LDL LEN LG LINE LMLP LXU MAIN MBB MD MDSO MDT MFA MHP MKL MTB NFP NOW NSM NSR NVS NYMT OKE OTTR PBNY PCEF PCL PDLI PFE PKG PNG PPH PSUN REM RNF ROP RPAI RRMS RSO S SAAS SEMG SHEN SJM SNSS SNV SPLV SPNC STE STFC SVXY TBBK THC TLP TREX TRST TSO TWC TYL UBA UGI UNS USNA VASC VCIT VHS VIAB VOX VRTU WAL WDFC WFM WMC WST XLV

52-week Lows
19 new lows: .VXEWZ BLDP CRDC CRR DECK DELL EOX LMOS MATX MCF MRVL QCOR RIMM UVXY VIIX VIXM VIXY VXX WHX

Top Equity Blocks
2.00m SPY 145.89 +0.02 +0.0% FINRA-ADF 10:42:15
1.87m SPY 145.50 -0.37 -0.3% CHX (MIDWEST) 12:16:19 – Tied to Options
1.75m WCRX 13.15 +0.12 +0.9% FINRA-ADF 14:27:03 – Burst
1.61m ELD 52.20 +0.06 +0.1% FINRA-ADF 10:54:45 – Burst
1.50m IWM 84.95 -0.26 -0.3% FINRA-ADF 12:33:16 – Average Price Trade
1.50m GEN 2.64 +0.02 +0.8% FINRA-ADF 11:36:25
1.50m IWM 85.14 +0.05 +0.1% CHX (MIDWEST) 11:13:47 – Tied to Options
1.50m GEN 2.64 +0.02 +0.8% FINRA-ADF 10:40:16
1.19m ACWI 47.33 -0.22 -0.5% FINRA-ADF 11:08:44 – Burst
1.04m EWG 23.24 -0.20 -0.9% FINRA-ADF 13:47:20 – Average Price Trade

Tags: market update, Sentiment

Category: Market Update