Posts Tagged
‘EWT’
by Option Review - January 13th, 2010 4:12 pm
Today’s tickers: PEP, ODP, PFE, EK, AET, PFE, EWT, BIDU, ZION & SII
PEP – PepsiCo, Inc. – Global beverage and snack company, PepsiCo, attracted the attention of bullish option traders in late afternoon trading. PEP’s shares appreciated just less than 1% during the session to stand at $62.05 with 45 minutes remaining before the closing bell. It looks like one trader initiated a ratio call spread on the stock in order to position for continued upward momentum in the price of the underlying through expiration in April. The investor purchased 6,000 calls at the April $62.5 strike for an average premium of $1.93 apiece, spread against the sale of 12,000 calls at the higher April $65 strike for roughly $0.92 each. The net cost of the transaction amounts to just $0.09 per contract. Shares need only rise $0.54 over the current price in order for the investor to breakeven on the trade. Maximum available profits of $2.41 per contract accumulate if the price of PEP’s shares rally 4.75% to $65.00 by expiration day in April.
ODP – Office Depot, Inc. – A sold strangle play on the global supplier of office supplies this afternoon indicates one investor expects shares of Office Depot to remain range-bound for the next several months. ODP’s shares improved 1.25% during the trading day to arrive at $6.61 each. It appears the investor sold 15,000 calls at the April $7.5 strike for a premium of $0.30 apiece, and sold 15,000 put options at the lower April $6 strike for an average premium of $0.47 each. The strangler pockets a gross premium of $0.77 per contract, which he keeps in full as long as shares of the office supplies company trade within the strike prices described above, through expiration. Lower volatility in the price of the underlying shares as well as declines in option implied volatility on the stock benefit the investor in this case. The trader is exposed to losses, however, if shares of Office Depot swing outside of the upper breakeven price of $8.27, or if the stock declines beneath the lower breakeven point at $5.23 by expiration.
PFE – Pfizer, Inc. – Massive chunks of long-dated call options traded on the pharmaceutical company this afternoon. It is unclear what the exact motivation or position of the responsible party is, but it certainly appears to be the work of a Pfizer-bull. Shares continue to…

Tags: AET, BIDU, EK, EWT, ODP, PEP, PFE, SII, ZION
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by Option Review - November 18th, 2009 4:15 pm
Today’s tickers: SLV, EWT, CL, BG, ILMN, COH, TMO, SPG, BG, ADSK & SLM
SLV – iShares Silver Trust ETF – A bull call spread in the January 2011 contract on the silver ETF today suggests shares of the SLV may rally significantly over the next year and two months time. Shares of the SLV are currently up 0.5% to $18.23. The silver-bull purchased a ratio call spread by buying 3,000 calls at the January 23 strike for an average premium of 1.93 apiece, and selling 6,000 calls at the higher January 30 strike for about 90 cents each. The net cost of the transaction is reduced to just 13 cents per contract. Shares of the fund must rally at least 27% before the investor breaks even at a price of $23.13. The trader stands ready to accumulate maximum potential profits of 6.87 per contract if the stock surges up to $30.00 by January 2011.
EWT – iShares MSCI Taiwan Index ETF – A massive bearish play on the Taiwan Index exchange-traded fund caught our attention this afternoon with shares of the EWT down 0.5% to $12.64 in late-day trading. It appears one investor established a bearish risk reversal in the December contract to position for potential share price declines through expiration. The trader sold 31,000 calls at the December 13 strike for 20 cents premium apiece, spread against the purchase of 31,000 puts at the lower December 12 strike for 20 cents each. The sale of the calls exactly offset the cost of buying the puts. Essentially the reversal is a “free” bet that shares of the EWT will trend lower ahead of the 2010. The investor responsible for the transaction is likely long shares of the underlying fund and seeking protection to the downside. If shares fall beneath $12.00, the value of the underlying position is protected. However, if shares of the fund rally by expiration, the trader risks having shares of the stock called from him at $13.00 apiece.
CL – Colgate-Palmolive Co. – Speculation that Reckitt Benckiser Group may acquire Colgate-Palmolive spurred an all-out call option feeding frenzy on CL today and lifted shares of the U.S. company to a new 52-week high of $86.33. Investors flooded the November and December contracts, scooping up call options to position for further upward movement in the price of the underlying. The sudden surge in demand for Colgate-Palmolive options…

Tags: ADSK, BG, CL, COH, EWT, ILMN, SLM, SLV, SPG, TMO
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by Option Review - June 11th, 2009 4:36 pm
Today’s tickers: VIX, EEM, XLU, EWT, AA, ESLR, UNH, HOT & DE
VIX– Summer’s here – you can tell by the fact that volatility is on the wane again that investors are winding down for the summer season. The market’s fear gauge has slipped back again and stands at a level not seen since last September. Today the VIX is trading at 27.45 as most investors see less need to pay higher premiums for protective strategies. Meanwhile, signs of recovery have created the impression that a market rally might feed on itself and has prompted many investors to write options recently. There hope is that as implied volatility erodes the fact that premiums will deflate would afford profits by buying those same options back later. However, the noise coming out of the Chicago Board Options Exchange today is over a July call spread using VIX options that relies on a market swan dive over the coming 41 days before it would earn profits. One trader spent an $850,000 premium on buying 20,000 July calls at the 45 strike while selling the same amount of 55 strike calls, thus lowering the overall premium to 42.5 cents. The VIX hasn’t traded above 40 since April 21 and we’re wondering what this guy knows that no one else does. – CBOE Volatility index
EEM– Shares of the emerging markets ETF have rallied more than 2.5% today to $34.47. The fund has enjoyed a nice run up over the past four months, gaining more than 72% since March 2, 2009, when shares were trading at $19.95. A trade observed in the September contract indicates that at least one investor is crossing his fingers for continued bullish movement in the stock through expiration in September. The trader targeted the now in-the-money September 34 strike price and sold 10,000 puts for 3.10 apiece in order to finance the purchase of 10,000 calls for 2.77 a pop. The investor receives a credit of 33 cents for the transaction. He will add to today’s profits if the EEM can continue to climb higher. – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index ETF
XLU – The utilities ETF has experienced a more than 2.5% increase in shares to $28.02. The XLU ticker symbol jumped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after one investor sunk his teeth into a chunk of put options in the September contract.…

Tags: AA, DE, EEM, ESLR, EWT, HOT, UNH, VIX, XLU
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by Option Review - April 29th, 2009 4:17 pm
Today’s tickers: XLI, XLY, DELL, CAT, XLF, AET, AN, EWT, SLAB, QLGC, BYD & INTC
XLI Industrial Select Sector SPDR – The industrials ETF attracted massive amounts of downside protection by investors fearing a near-term contraction in shares of the fund. The price per share is currently up by 3% to $23.19 on the day following broader market gains experienced today. However, traders have enacted a decidedly bearish position on the fund in the near-term May contract. At the May 19 strike price more than 65,100 puts were purchased for an average premium of 17 cents apiece. These option contracts will begin to yield profits to the downside beginning at the breakeven share price of $18.83. Further along, the in-the-money June 23 strike price saw traders who were likely banking gains on the rise in shares today by selling approximately 27,000 calls for an average premium of 65 cents per contract.
XLY Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR – The consumer discretionary ETF jumped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after investors bought a huge chunk of puts in the near-term May contract. Shares have rallied by 4% to $21.80 today, creating lesser cost premiums on put options. At the May 20 strike price approximately 58,100 puts were picked up for an average premium of 18 cents apiece. Investors have certainly appeared to brace themselves for bearish movements in the fund. Fleshing out the pessimistic picture was the sale of 2,290 calls at the May 23 strike for 82 cents which indicates that traders do not see today’s rally stemming too much further, particularly in the near-term.
DELL Dell Inc. – The just-in-time manufacturer of personal computers has rallied by more than 4% to $11.35 amid broad market gains today. We observed one trader who appears to have established a covered call in the January 2010 contract. It is likely that this investor bought shares of the underlying stock today or was already long the stock previously, and then sold 24,500 calls at the January 12.5 strike price for a premium of 1.50 each. The trader pockets the 1.50 premium and has locked into gains of 10% on the rise in share price should the calls land in-the-money and the underlying stock get called from him at expiration next year.
CAT Caterpillar, Inc. – Shares of CAT have rallied by more than 3.5% today to arrive at…

Tags: AET, AN, BYD, CAT, DELL, EWT, INTC, QLGC, SLAB, XLF, XLI, XLY
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February 11th, 2012 8:20 pm
Submitted by Mark Hanna
Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.
Damn. Two (MJ and Whitney) of the big 4 of the 80s gone – Madonna and Prince remain. Probably the most well known Star Spangled Banner ever…
Disclosure Notice
Any securities mentioned on this page are not held by the author in his personal portfolio. Securities mentioned may or may not be held by the author in the mutual fund he manages, the Paladin Long Short Fund (PALFX). For a list of the aforementioned fund's holdings at the end of the prior quarter, visit the Paladin Funds website at http://www.paladinfunds.com/holdings/blog
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February 11th, 2012 8:05 pm
Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.
Submitted by Tyler Durden.
We have posted various extracts from this piece from Credit Suisse previously. We will post from it again, because, to loosely paraphrase Lewis Black, it bears reposting... especially in the context of the latest and greatest Greek "bailout" (of Europe's bankers), which incidentally, will achieve nothing and merely bring the country one step closer to a military coup and/or civil war.
The flaw
The market is essentially proceeding on the assumption, as we see it, that banks’ capital requirements can be met organically, through earnings and deleveraging. We ...
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February 11th, 2012 6:46 pm
It's Well Past Time for Plan Z
Courtesy of The Automatic Earth
Mario Draghi captured the utter ineptitude of him and every other Eurocrat out there when he said the following at today’s press conference in response to a question about a Greek exit: “To have a Plan B means defeat already. I am confident that all the pieces of this will fall in the proper places.”
Most 5-year old children in pre-school have already been told not to believe that they can always win and that “winning isn’t everything”, but Draghi & Co. still refuse to consider the possibility of failure even as it is staring them in the face. What’s really disturbing is that the stakes here are obviously much, much higher than they are o...
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February 11th, 2012 5:35 pm
Courtesy of Doug Short.
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
It's interesting to watch some of the terms bandied about in headline news. For example, the LA Times headline reads S&P says student loan debt could be next financial bubble.
Next? Could Be?
What with the word "next"? Also what's with the words "could be"? Without a doubt student loans are in a bubble and have been for many years. The source of the problem, as it always is with financial bubbles, is cheap money, loans to nearly anyone, and in the case of student loans, no way to discharge the debt, even in bankruptcy.
From the article:
"Student-loan debt has ballooned and m...
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February 11th, 2012 12:00 am
Top 5 RisersStockRatingAnalysis
ICABUYThe projected value for Empresas ICA is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.
XBUYThe projected value for US Steel is still rising quickly even though past earnings have already improved significantly.
FEICBUYProjected value continues to rise for FEI while long term increases in earnings growth are also becoming more widely expected.
ASBCBUYMany analysts are expecting higher than previously expected long term growth from Associated Bancorp, and its near-term earnings outlook is also improving....
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February 10th, 2012 6:20 pm
Courtesy of Benzinga.
The following are the M&A deals, rumors and chatter circulating on Wall Street for Friday February 10, 2012:
Actuant Acquires Jeyco Pty
The Deal:
Actuant (NYSE: ATU) announced Friday that it has acquired Jeyco Pty Ltd (“Jeyco”). Headquartered near Perth, Australia, Jeyco designs and provides specialized mooring, rigging and towing systems and services to the offshore oil & gas industry in Australia and other international markets. Additionally, its highly engineered products are used in a variety of applications for other markets including cyclone mooring and marine, defense and mining tow systems. Jeyco generates annual revenues of approximately $20 million.
Actuant shares closed at $27.33 Friday, a loss of 0.18% on average volume.
...
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February 10th, 2012 4:11 pm
Courtesy of John Nyaradi.
Greece was “saved” for less than 24 hours but now major ETFs around the world skid into the weekend on Greek fears
After wangling for a week or more, Greek took their new deal to the European Ministers meeting, only to have it promptly rejected and so as we go into the weekend, major global markets and ETFs have again hit the skids on Greece.
After two years of wangling, the European zone is demanding yet more and deeper cuts for Greece to qualify for the next round of bailout loans that will keep the country from going bankrupt on March 20th.
Major European and United States ETF responded negatively to the new developments:
SPDR Dow Jones Industrial ETF (NYSEARCA:...
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February 10th, 2012 1:40 pm
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February 10th, 2012 1:22 pm
Today’s tickers: TRLG, KR & IGT
...
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February 6th, 2012 9:02 am
Reminder: OpTrader is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
This post is for all our live virtual trade ideas and daily comments. Please click on "comments" below to follow our live discussion. All of our current trades are listed in the spreadsheet below, with entry price (1/2 in and All in), and exit prices (1/3 out, 2/3 out, and All out).
We also indicate our stop, which is most of the time the "5 day moving average". All trades, unless indicated, are front-month ATM options.
Please feel free to participate in the discussion and ask any questions you might have about this virtual portfolio, by clicking on the "comments" link right below.
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February 5th, 2012 5:19 am
NEW: Elliott and Ilene are available to chat with Members regarding topics presented in SWW, comments are found below each post.
Here's the latest Stock World Weekly, called "The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics."
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January 30th, 2012 7:22 am
Here is a quick update of past trades and our current position.
AA Money
No trade this week as we wait for AA to settle. Phil remarked last week that AA seemed overvalued. In the meantime, it looks like we might have to roll our Feb 9 calls. Good thing we sold only 5 of them against our position.
Last week P&L - 310.00
We lost ground last week, but we still have 11 months to sell premium!
FAS Money
Very good week for FAS Money as we benefited from the large amount of premium sold the previous week. We covered most of the shorts in advance of the Fed speech, but sold another set of options on Wednesday after the speech - 2 FAS calls that expired worthless on Friday, 2 FAS put that we are still holding and 2 FAZ put that we bought back for a profit on Friday. A late stick comparable to last week's almost gave us problems at the end of the day though!
Last week P&L - $4277.00
IWM Money
A decent week in this virtual portfo...
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January 18th, 2012 1:09 am
Reminder: Pharmboy is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.
Finding new and exciting Biotech companies that target novel mechanisms is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sure there are many companies working on cutting edge science, but investing in those companies to reap the rewards of their work is a very dangerous game. More often than not, companies fail because the mechanism does not pan out, the compound(s) do not have pharmacokinetics (get into the body or last very long in the body), or an adverse event happens that knocks years off a development timeline. In addition, the stock can be manipulated by market makers so investors don't know which way is up. I approach investing in biotechs as a long term prospect. I continue to like our current portfolio of biotech companies (join in chat for many of those plays), and we continually add/subtract shares and sell/buy options on ...
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