WhatsTrading.com Options Recap — 10/04/2012

Stock market averages are higher on hopes Central Bank easing will help stem the worldwide economic slowdown. The euro is up .75 percent and again testing 1.3 on the Buck after the European Central Bank concluded its policy meeting and ECB President Draghi vowed bond buybacks to help troubled Eurozone nations. In the US, focus turned to minutes from the latest FOMC meeting this afternoon. The text also offered soothing words about additional asset purchases. The day’s other economic news was mixed, with jobless claims increasing a bit more-than-expected last week, but Factory Orders falling a bit less-than-expected in August. The first Presidential debate was also a subject of conversation among traders this morning, with comments from pro-business Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney possibly affecting early trading on Wall Street Thursday. Key monthly jobs data come into focus tomorrow. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 80 points ahead of the news. With 90 minutes left to trade, the NASDAQ is sporting a modest 8-point gain.

Overall trading volumes picked up a bit this morning and are projected to be a respectable 17.8 million contracts on the day. However, about 2 million contracts of call activity is due to ex-dividend trading in AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ). Hewlett Packard (HPQ) is also seeing high volume, as shares slip for a second day following yesterday’s lackluster revenue guidance. 79 million shares and 211,000 options traded on HPQ. The stock is down .4 percent and the biggest loser in the Dow for a second day. MetroPCS (PCS) sees high volume for a second as well, after the stock was halted and then rallied, only to fall again, on speculation Sprint is eyeing the company after PCS and T-Mobile inked a deal to combine on Wednesday. The stock is now down 20 cents to $12.04 on 64.5 million shares. 172K options traded in PCS. Meanwhile, CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) is down .34 to 15.09 amid relatively light volumes in the index pits this week. 201,000 calls and 321,000 puts traded in SPX so far, which is in stark contrast to last year when volume in the index pits surged to more than 2 million contracts – just as the market was forging an important market bottom.

Notable Flow

QLIK – Bullish flow detected in Qlik Technologies Inc with 5663 calls trading, or 5x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $19.245 (-1.595) with ATMIV lifting by 3.29 point and 51% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 14:21

ISIS – Bearish activity detected in Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc with 5072 puts trading, or 6x the recent avg daily put volume in the name. Shares near $12.59 (-0.23) with ATMIV lifting by 7.37 point and 63% of todays put premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 13:51

LEAP – Bullish flow detected in Leap Wireless International Inc New with 5580 calls trading, or 2x the recent avg daily call volume in the name. Shares near $5.89 (-0.34) with ATMIV lifting by 18.34 point and 50% of todays call premium trading offer side. (Trade-Alert) 12:21

High options volume is being seen in T, VZ, HPQ, PCS, NFLX, WMB, VRNG, GIS, LLY, SRPT

Movers
Symbol Last Change %Change StdDevs
NUVA 15.06 -7.56 -33.4% 13.53
INFA 25.40 -8.23 -24.5% 11.08
INSM 6.63 +1.29 +24.2% 5.79
ARQL 2.76 +0.47 +20.5% 1.10
JKS 4.48 +0.75 +20.1% 5.03
VRNG 5.10 +0.80 +18.6% 2.26
GNK 4.02 +0.50 +14.2% 2.82
SRPT 38.79 -6.14 -13.7% 0.54
HMSY 28.50 -3.74 -11.6% 7.65
CTIC 2.09 -0.27 -11.4% 1.02

Shakers (Implied volatility Movers)
Symbol IV[30d] IVChg IVChg% SkewAdjChg Last Change
PCS 68.5% +25.6 +59.8% +25.8 $12.04 -0.20
MAR 23.4% -8.7 -27.0% -8.7 $38.83 -0.17 Post-Earnings
OPTR 70.3% +12.5 +21.6% +6.6 $11.90 -0.92
RY 13.6% -3.5 -20.5% +nan $58.65 +0.98
GPS 27.5% -6.3 -18.6% -6.0 $37.08 +0.33
ARR 11.8% -2.7 -18.5% -2.8 $7.68 +0.01
LEAP 103.1% +15.9 +18.3% +15.0 $5.88 -0.35
NLY 14.0% +2.1 +17.8% +0.7 $16.62 -0.27
MDRX 59.9% +9.0 +17.8% +8.7 $12.98 +0.20
THC 48.9% +7.0 +16.8% +6.8 $6.26 -0.14

52-Week Highs
203 new highs: ABT ACCL ACE ACMP ACN ADC ALL ALOG ALXN AMGN AN AOL AON ARTC ASFI ASPS ASR BANR BAX BBH BDSI BEN BIOS BOND BRK/B BRLI BUD CAG CAMP CAP CB CCI CFFN CFN CLDX CMRE CNP COO CRL CSE CSM CSU CTAS CVH CVS CX CYBX DEO DFS DGX DISCA DISCK DORM DSW DVA DW EHTH EIX ESRX EW EWW EXH EXLS EXP FAF FBT FISV FITB FLT FNF FNV FRX FVE GE GEVA GIL GOOG GPI GPS HBC HCBK HCC HCII HD HDB HLSS HRB IBB IBN ICUI IHF INFI INSM INWK INXN IRM ISBC IYH JAH KBH KCAP LAD LAMR LLY LMCA LMLP LMT LQD MA MAIN MDVN MHP MIC MMM MMP MORN MPW MRH MRK MTB MVG MYGN NCT NGVC NPSP NVO NVS NYB OCN OKE ORBC PAA PAG PFE PHH PM PMT PNG PNRA POOL PPH PRGO PRXL PTIE QGEN RAX REGN RPAI RTH SAH SBAC SHAW SHW SIGI SIM SIRI SJM SLW SNI SNTA SPLV SRC SSI STE STZ SVA TBBK TCBI TDG THO TIP TRV TRW TSO TWC TWO UGI UHS V VAC VASC VCIT VDC VHS VHT VIAB VPFG VR VRNG VRSN WAB WAC WAL WES WMB WPI WTFC WYN XL XLP XLV XXIA ZLC

52-week Lows
34 new lows: AMD ATVI BBRG BEBE BOOM BRKS CEVA CIG CZR DDMGQ DELL DIOD EBR/B ESI EXPR GLL HPQ HUSA ICFI IGOI INFA IQNT ISIL LDK NANO OIIM POWI SHZ STEC TSU VIXM VXZ XRTX ZAZA

Top Equity Blocks
1.61m EWT 13.44 -0.05 -0.4% FINRA-ADF 10:56:48 – Burst
1.20m VXX 8.77 -0.12 -1.4% FINRA-ADF 14:18:29 – Average Price Trade
1.00m QQQ 69.12 +0.19 +0.3% FINRA-ADF 12:32:54
1.00m S 5.02 -0.18 -3.5% FINRA-ADF 14:36:03
1.00m SPY 146.00 +0.98 +0.7% FINRA-ADF 14:31:44 – Average Price Trade
1.00m EEM 41.86 +0.36 +0.9% FINRA-ADF 14:31:41 – Derivatively Priced
1.00m BSBR 7.32 -0.08 -1.1% FINRA-ADF 14:12:41
1.00m SPY 146.00 +0.96 +0.7% FINRA-ADF 14:09:49 – Average Price Trade
1.00m TSM 16.07 +0.02 +0.1% FINRA-ADF 14:00:03
1.00m TSM 16.05 +0.01 +0.0% FINRA-ADF 13:52:18

Tags: featured, market update, Sentiment

Category: Market Update