Rowan Companies (RDC) adds 3.8 percent to $34.36 and is on a two-day 9.9 percent run higher. Bullish options order flow has accompanied today’s move. Morning trades include a multi-exchange sweep of Feb 40 calls traded at the 15-cent asking (register to read more …) [...]

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ION Geophysical Corp. (IO) adds 14 cents to $6.84 and today’s options order flow on the Houston-based seismic data acquisition instruments-maker includes a multi-exchange sweep of 3,096 Dec 6 puts for 10 cents when the market was 5 to 10 (register to read more …) [...]

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Transocean (RIG) offshore is under fire Tuesday afternoon and implied volatility in the options on the oil driller is up sharply after Reuters reported that the company’s CEO was asked about prospects for settling with BP over the Macondo incident, (register to read more …) [...]

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Williams Companies (WMB) is flat at $23.61 and one strategist pays 38.5 cents for Oct 26 calls, 14000X and sells 20,000 Nov 24 calls at $2.04. Similar action surfaced in the natural gas producer yesterday and open interest updates indicate (register to read more …) [...]

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Halliburton (HAL) adds $2.36 t o$47.84 as the drillers rally on higher oil prices. Crude is now $1.56 to $86.94. Meanwhile, in HAL options action, one strategist sold the Sep 40 – 50 strangle at $2.16, 6000X, to buy 4,000 (register to read more …) [...]

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Weatherford (WFT) loses $1.40 to $16.80 amid volatility in the drillers after crude oil lost another $3.36 to $83.52 per barrel. A noteworthy options trade in WFT today is an Aug 18 – Sep 17 call spread bought at 91 (register to read more …) [...]

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Williams Companies (WMB) loses 17 cents to $31.45 and morning trades on the natural gas producer include multi-exchange sweeps of Aug 28 puts at the 25-cent asking price. 14,000 contracts now traded against 46,153 in open interest and ISEE data (register to read more …) [...]

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Ensco (ESV), an oil and gas driller, is up 26 cents to $52.58 after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to Overweight from Equal Weight today. The firm raised their price target to $80 from $75. 11,000 calls now traded in (register to read more …) [...]

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Quick Follow-Up to the Baker Hughes (BHI) 10:40 color. The initial trade was a 20000-contract block of Aug 80 calls at $2.33. That trade was apparently canceled and adjusted to 2000 contracts at $2.33 apiece. 3,154 now traded against 3,357 (register to read more …) [...]

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The biggest options trade so far today is in Baker Hughes (BHI), which is up 91 cents to $77.91 and has now rallied 15.8 percent since 6/24. A 20,000-contract block of Aug 80 calls trades at $2.33 on CBOE when (register to read more …) [...]

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