WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 10/03/2012

Market action is mixed late-Wednesday, with weakness in crude weighing on the energies and offsetting positive economic data. ADP reported this morning that the economy added 162,000 private sector jobs last month. The headline number was about 30,000 more than expected. Later, ISM Services Index showed improvement to 55.1 in September, from 53.7 and better than the 53.0 that was expected. Yet, crude oil is down nearly $4 to $87.95 after weekly inventory data failed to ease concerns about increasing supplies amid a global economic slowdown. Elsewhere, trading was quiet across most of Asia and the Eurozone. The euro is off .15 percent to 1.29 against the dollar. Overall, there hasn’t been much to drive market action one way or the other. The Dow is now down 7 points, but the NASDAQ clings to a 7-point gain.

Overall trading volumes are light again today. The projected volume is 12.6 million contracts. With less than an hour to trade, 5.8 million calls and 4.9 million puts traded across the exchanges. MetroPCS (PCS) is seeing heavy trading after inking a deal to combine with T-Mobile. However, the stock is down $1.27 to $12.30 after rallying yesterday on chatter about a possible deal. 61 million shares and 135,000 options traded on PCS today. HP (HPQ) is the Dow’s biggest loser, falling 5 percent, after updating guidance at its analyst day. 179,000 puts and 136,000 calls traded on the computer-maker today. HCA was the subject of bearish spread trading in the Oct and November put options. 47,000 calls and 13,00 puts traded in HCA so far. Finally, CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is down .16 to 15.55 and November 16 puts on the “fear gauge” are among today’s most actives. 52,777 contracts traded so far.

Notable Flow

FRX – Bullish flow detected in Forest Laboratories Inc with 6795 calls trading, or 3x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $36.9 (0.85) with ATMIV lifting by 3.75 point and 56% of todays call premium trading offer side. Auto Content (Trade-Alert) 13:21
CLR – Bullish flow detected in Continental Resources Inc with 2553 calls trading, or 2x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $75.128 (-2.182) with ATMIV lifting by 1.07 point and 68% of todays call premium trading offer side. Auto Content (Trade-Alert) 13:01

ASPS – Bullish flow detected in Altisource Portfolio Solutions SA with 2867 calls trading, or 11x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $100.515 (12.465) with ATMIV lifting by 9.16 point and 55% of todays call premium trading offer side. Auto Content (Trade-Alert) 12:41

High options volume is being seen in HPQ, CPB, PCS, NFLX, VRNG, HCA, SRPT, AMRN, LCC, NWSA

Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
SRPT 41.87 +26.88 +179.3% 35.41
VRNG 3.96 +0.87 +28.2% 7.98
LEAP 6.11 -1.48 -19.5% 5.45
CHBT 2.40 -0.50 -17.2% 1.17
OCN 33.67 +4.71 +16.3% 12.35
XRTX 7.29 -1.41 -16.2% 5.79 Post-Earnings
KRA 21.59 -3.63 -14.4% 4.49
ASPS 100.20 +12.15 +13.8% 8.68
HPQ 15.08 -2.05 -12.0% 7.83
KIOR 7.97 -1.03 -11.4% 2.50

Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
SRPT 121.8% -105.5 -46.4% -57.5 $41.60 +26.61
ALGN 62.7% +15.0 +31.4% +14.5 $38.14 -0.02
FDO 22.8% -7.4 -24.6% -6.9 $68.38 +2.38 Post-Earnings
ETP 23.8% +4.3 +21.8% +nan $41.78 -0.62
ARR 12.5% -3.4 -21.4% -3.9 $7.69 +0.03
PCS 41.9% -10.5 -20.1% -16.7 $12.26 -1.31
PSSI 53.8% +8.3 +18.2% +8.4 $22.76 -0.24
KSS 31.7% +4.8 +17.9% +5.1 $52.17 +1.23
MON 20.7% -4.3 -17.3% -4.8 $88.26 -2.31 Post-Earnings
TWO 13.7% -2.7 -16.3% -2.1 $11.92 -0.03

52-Week Highs
152 new highs: ACCL ADC ADT ALOG AMGN AN AOL ARTC ASFI ASPS BBH BIOS BKD BOND BRLI BUD CAG CAMP CB CCE CCI CEB CFFN CFN CLMT COO CPF CRL CSE CSOD CSU CTGX CVH CVS DGX DIN DORM DST DVA DW DYN EHTH EMB ESC ESRX EWH EXP FNF FVE GIL GILD GLP GPI GPS GZT HCC HCII HD HLSS HRB HRS IBB ICUI IGATY IHF INWK IRM ISBC IYH JKHY KCAP KRFT KS LAD LAMR LBTYA LG LLY LMCA MA MAIN MDVN MFA MHP MMP MRK MTB MYGN NFP NGVC NKTR NPSP NRF NSM NSR NTSP NWN NYB OCN ONXX PAA PCY PHH PMT PNRA POOL PRGO PRXL QGEN RAX REGN RGC RPAI SAAS SBAC SHW SIGI SIRI SIRO SNTS SPLV SPSC SRC SRDX SRPT STAG STC STE STEI STZ SVA SYNT TAO TBBK TCBI TIP TREX TYL UHS UVV V VCIT VDC VHT VQ VRSN WAB WAC WMB WPI XLV ZLC

52-week Lows
30 new lows: ADTN AMD ART ATML AVX BBW BEBE BRKS CZR DELL DIOD ESI EXPR FLML FOL GST HMY HPQ HSII HUSA IGATY ISIL PAY PGNX SCHS STEC TSU TTI VIXM XRTX

Top Equity Blocks
15.4m EWG 22.96 -0.03 -0.1% FINRA-ADF 14:51:21 – Derivatively Priced
12.7m PCY 31.08 +0.21 +0.7% FINRA-ADF 15:21:25 – Burst
4.82m TIP 122.65 +0.15 +0.1% FINRA-ADF 12:14:45
2.65m WTSLA 3.15 -0.03 -0.9% FINRA-ADF 14:04:51
2.21m SIRI 2.70 +0.08 +3.1% FINRA-ADF 13:53:16
2.18m EWH 18.56 +0.24 +1.3% FINRA-ADF 12:39:51 – Burst
2.10m HCBK 8.03 +0.07 +0.9% FINRA-ADF 13:39:59
2.00m PCS 12.17 -1.32 -9.8% CHX (MIDWEST) 11:39:47 – Tied to Options
2.00m SIRI 2.71 +0.09 +3.4% FINRA-ADF 11:34:21
1.87m SIRI 2.70 +0.08 +3.1% FINRA-ADF 13:21:14

Tags: featured, market update, Sentiment

Category: Market Update