15.2 million calls and 4.4 million puts traded so far, yielding a total put-to-call ratio of just 29. However, heavy ex-div trading in a handful of exchange-traded funds is distorting the ratio. Call volume in the iShares Emerging Markets Fund (register to read more …) [...]

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8.91 million calls and 4.74 million puts traded through 13:30 eastern time, which is about 1.5X the typical volume. The put-to-call ratio has fallen to .53. Heavy trading in Citi is one reason. 1.78 million calls have traded on the (register to read more …) [...]

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Major averages are rallying around positive earnings from Intel (INTC), CSX, and JP Morgan (JPM). All three posted results that beat Street estimates and the S&P 500 Index is up 10.2 points to 1179.97 midday. Trading is active in the (register to read more …) [...]

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About 15 million calls and 6 million puts traded so far, yielding an anemic total put-to-call ratio of only .40. While bullish sentiment is obvious following today’s rally, the P/C ratio is being distorted by a significant number of ex-dividend (register to read more …) [...]

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Trading slowed this afternoon, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average now up 27 points and roughly midway within today’s 114-point trading range. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX), which slipped .75 last week, is off another .86 to 24.63 and near (register to read more …) [...]

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Trading is active heading into the options expiration, with 1.8 million calls and 1.9 million puts traded in the first hour, which is more than double the usual. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) hit a high of 27 and was (register to read more …) [...]

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Overall market volume on this Friday the 13th is a very light 8.2million contracts with an hour to go, on track for one of the lightest days of 2010, as most broad averages trade flat and the CBOE VIX sits (register to read more …) [...]

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A number of new ‘weekly’ options will be listed this Thursday, with expiration at the close Friday Aug 6: new names include GE, CSCO, PFE (earnings 8/3), RIG (earnings 8/4) and DNDN will be listed. Today’s volume in weeklys just (register to read more …) [...]

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VZ, F, HON, MCD, AMZN

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Some less actively traded names seeing bullish order flow: Bridgepoint Education Systems (BPI), Foot Locker (FL), Mellanox Tech (MLNX) Bearish order flow: Quality Systems (QSII), Platinum Underwriters (PTP), Lam Research (LRCX) Post-Earnings: Yahoo ((register to read more …) [...]

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