*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

Annaly Mortgage put open interest increased by 35,000 this morning to a total of 249,150 contracts, a new multi-year high, with nearly half the positions struck out-of-them money and a concentration in the 14 and 15 strikes, currently 12% and 6% below spot. Shares closed at $15.95, and data shows opening buying of the June 14 puts for 13 to 14cents for with a total of 21,000 trading as shares hovered near $16.02. This put volume was 4x the recent adv, while underlying volume was normal.

Hovnanian (HOV) is up 2 pennies to $7 and it looks like the Nov 5 – 7.5 bullish risk-reversal is bought at 80 cents, 3000X on PHLX. It might offset an existing position, as open interest is sufficient to cover in both contracts.

Stocks are indicated modestly lower following two days of gains and a mixed round of earnings news Wednesday. Thirty minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures hint at a possible 20 point early loss for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The industrial average has gained 230 points so far this week.

However, Dow component Pfizer (PFE) is down 2.5 percent after the pharmaceutical giant reported quarterly profits of 49 cents per share, which was a penny shy of analyst estimates. Time Warner (TWX), MetLife (MET), and Wal-Green’s (WAG) are also lower on earnings. News Corp. (NWSA), owner of the Wall Street Journal, jumped 5 percent after reporting a 25-cent per share profit, which beat Street estimate by a nickel.

In economic news, ADP reports that 22,000 private sector jobs were lost in January, which was better than the 30,000 loss economists had predicted. The report comes two days ahead of key jobs data. Economists expect Friday’s report to show the economy adding 13,000 jobs in the first month of 2010.

The ISM Services Index is due out 10:00 a.m. eastern time. Economists expect the gauge of economic activity outside of manufacturing to improve to 51 for January, up from 49.8 the month before.

Bonds are lower on the better-than-expected jobs numbers. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is down a few ticks and now yields 3.67 percent

The dollar added .44 to 90.80 against the yen. The euro edged down .0019 to 1.3942 against the buck.

After gaining almost $5 over the past two days, crude oil is off 33 cents to $76.90 a barrel ahead of weekly inventory data at 10:30 eastern time. Gold lost $4.8 to $1113.20 an ounce.

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

SPDR Homebuilder Trust (XHB) is up 44 cents to $15.22 and calls are active ahead of existing home sales data, due out Friday morning at 10:00 ET. One player bought an impressive 100K Nov 16 calls for an average of 30 cents per contract. 117,000 now traded.

A number of individual homebuilders are seeing action as well. 113K calls and 40K puts traded across the sector. Lennar (LEN) Nov 15 calls are the most actives, with 12,199 traded and 70 percent hitting ask-side. Players are also showing interest in Hovnanian (HOV) Nov and Dec 5 calls, KB Homes (KBH) Nov 17 calls, DR Horton (DHI) Nov 12.5 calls, Pulte Homes (PHM) Nov 10 calls, Toll Brothers (TOL) Nov 14 calls. While existing home sales data are due out tomorrow, some market watchers also note that today’s flurry of activity might be in anticipation of an extension of tax credits for first time homebuyers — perhaps continuing the program and extending to all new home buyers?

*Scanning all single-stocks subject to 2500 contracts minimum call or put volume

Shares of retailer Charlotte Russ have staged an impressive 300% rally since early this year when they hovered near $5, and today’s option flow suggests speculation that further upside may be possible in the short term with volume 5x normal and 10 calls trading for every put. An early buyer paid 15cents for 564 Aug 15 calls, followed by 20 cent prints until a total of 2378 contracts had changed hands. ISE data confirms majority of the flow to be opening customer buyers.

Put flow in Starwood Hotels is running 12x normal this morning, with 16,000 contracts trading, 10x the number of calls as shares hover little changed near 26.90. Data shows a non-customer buyer paying from 1.20 to 1.25 for nearly 10,000 August 27 puts to open a new position. Buying also seen in downside 26 puts, with 4332 on the tape, most for 95cents. This pressure has caused atm IV to lift about 10points to the 59% range. No catalyst on the calendar but we also saw IV buying in Marriot Sept ATM straddle yesterday.