Buy-write in the Select Sector Financials (XLF) early Thursday after an investor sells 30K Dec 15 calls at 76 cents and buys 3 million shares at $14.33. Shares are up 28 cents to $14.43 and implied volatility down about 3 (register to read more …) [...]

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BP hits a new 52-week low of $36.90 Tuesday morning and was recently down $4.79 to $38.19 after the oil giant said its operation Top Kill to stem the oil leak in the Gulf spill was not successful. In the (register to read more …) [...]

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BP gapped higher and is up $2.42 to $44.83 after Bloomberg reported operation “top kill” temporarily stopped the oil flow from the Gulf spill. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer upgraded the stock to Outperform, saying the upside potential for shares is now significantly (register to read more …) [...]

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Pfizer (PFE) was down 22 cents to $15 midday Tuesday and the top trade in the name was a block of 6750 Dec 15 calls on the $1.39 bid. Looks tied to 675K shares at $14.99 and part of a (register to read more …) [...]

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CenturyTel (CTL) is down 93 cents to $35.27 and options volume is running 12X the recent average daily after the company announced plans to buy Denver’s Qwest Communications (Q), to create the nation’s third biggest local phone service and Internet (register to read more …) [...]

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Arena Resources (ARD) is up 67 cents to $37.38 and has added 9.1 percent since Sandridge (SD) announced plans on April 4 to buy ARD at $40 per share in cash and stock. Today, Caris analysts said they don’t expect (register to read more …) [...]

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AT&T (T) is up 14 cents to $25.26 and one player sells 14617 Jan11 25 calls at $1.82. It was tied to shares at $24.99 (on a 50 delta) and might close an existing position, as open interest is 68,540 (register to read more …) [...]

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CIT Group (CIT) is seeing relative strength and increasing options action (3X avg daily) on news it has hired John Thain as CEO. In his 30-year career, Thain has risen to top executive positions at Merrill, Goldman, and the NYSE. (register to read more …) [...]

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Gold Fields (GFI) is off 89 cents to $11.05 after gold prices plummeted $37 to $1075 an ounce Thursday. In the options market, morning trades include Apr 12 – 14 call spreads, apparently sold at 27 cents, 7000X. It might (register to read more …) [...]

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Gerdau (GGB) with a large buy-write Monday, as 4,000 June $20 calls are sold for $0.85 against a large equity purchase of 125,000 shares. Shares have held rather strong during the recent steel sell-off and can be seen as (register to read more …) [...]

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