Which Way Wednesday – $3.5Tn Not Enough to Prop up Markets?
by phil - March 28th, 2012 8:19 am
Uh-oh!
Wasn't it just 2 days ago that the EU was all set to pop the ESM to $1.25Tn and the IMF was going to add another Trillion and the Fed was talking about more QE in the $1.25Tn range, which plunged the Dollar to multi-week lows? Shouldn't adding 6% of the entire planet's GDP in additional stimulus give us more than a one-day pop in the markets?
As I pointed out in Monday's Morning Alert to Members – these are all just RUMORS and my conclusion in the Alert was:
Despite the bullish turn of events (which we anticipated last week) we're more inclined to cash out our bullish trades into the excitement and press our bear bets and TOMORROW, if we're still over our levels – THEN we will scramble to add some aggressive bullish trades to our virtual portfolios. Again, I cannot stress enough that CASH is my preferred position because this market is tough to call and you need to be very flexible and very nimble to trade it.
We proceeded as planned and, so far, we haven't had any reason to capitulate and get more bullish and that is both surprising and disappointing as this is the end of the first quarter of 2012 – if not now – when? As David Fry notes:
Monday’s rally was typical as we head toward the end of the quarter. Hedge fund performance fees are on the line and any way to boost these profits is job one. Top holdings for hedge funds include the usual suspects: AAPL, IBM, INTC, BAC, DIS, HD etc.
With little volume it’s easy for algos and hedge funds to prop stocks on little hard news. Tuesday we briefly saw more of this. Just as markets were weakening a story appeared using the Fed’s favorite oracle, the WSJ, as Fed governor Rosengren stated, “more stimulus is on the table”. Immediately HFT algos jumped and markets rose if only briefly.
It's very exciting for us as PLCN (see Thursday's notes) went all the way up to $736 on Monday and sold off on some pretty heavy trading yesterday. Slowly but surely, our negative premise is beginning to take shape as Piper Jaffray is finally catching up with us and noting "a sharp decline in unique visitors to Priceline's booking.com" from growth of 61 percent during the…
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Weekly Put Buyers Eye Further Downside In Caterpillar
by Option Review - March 22nd, 2012 2:00 pm
Today’s tickers: CAT, KKD & JBLU
CAT - Caterpillar, Inc. – Shares in Caterpillar are down for the third straight day, trading 2.1% lower on Thursday afternoon at $106.68 as of 12:50 p.m. in New York following the release of weaker manufacturing data from Germany and China. Activity in the newly issued weekly options on the machinery maker suggests some traders anticipate the downside move in the shares will continue in the near term. Bearish positions were initiated at the Mar. ’30 $100 strike, where more than 1,000 puts were purchased for an average premium of $0.35 apiece. Traders long the $100 puts profit at expiration next week in the event that CAT’s shares decline another 6.6% to breach the average breakeven price of $99.65. Shares in Caterpillar last traded below $99.65 in mid-January.
KKD - Krispy Kreme Doughnut, Inc. – Options on Krispy Kreme are more active than usual today, with shares in the doughnut retailer down 6.6% at $7.25 this afternoon. More than three times as many call options are changing hands on KKD as put options, but most of the volume appears to be bearish. Front month $7.5 strike calls traded around 1,200 times so far today against open interest of 415 positions. It looks like most of the call options were sold this morning for $0.25 to $0.30 per contract. Perhaps call sellers are throwing in the towel on the possibility for a near-term rebound in shares of the doughnut maker. Alternatively, some of the volume today may be the work of traders cutting their losses on bullish positions initiated yesterday afternoon. Open interest in the April $7.5 strike calls suggests buyers shelled out $0.65 per contract for a couple hundred contracts on Wednesday. These positions more than halved in value overnight.…
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Bearish Spread On DuPont Suggests Shares On The Decline In 2012
by Option Review - December 9th, 2011 1:25 pm
Today’s tickers: DD, BCSI, JBLU & FCS
DD - EI du Pont de Nemours & Co. – Shares in the U.S. chemical maker dropped on Friday after the company lowered full-year earnings guidance by $0.10 a share to a range of $3.87 to $3.95 a share. The stock is off its lowest point of the session to stand 4.75% lower on the day at $44.31 just before 12:00 PM ET. Activity in DuPont put options expiring in January 2012 indicate some traders are positioning for the price of the underlying to extend losses in the near term. It appears one strategist initiated a ratio put spread, buying 2,250 puts at the Jan. 2012 $41 strike for a premium of $0.94 each, and selling 4,500 puts at the lower Jan. 2012 $38 strike at a premium of $0.48 apiece. The spread yields a net credit of $0.02 per contract and positions the trader add to profits in the event that shares drop 7.5% from the current price of $44.31 to breach the effective breakeven point on the downside at $41.00 by expiration. Maximum potential profits of $3.02 per contract are available to the investor should DuPont’s shares plunge 14.2% to settle at $38.00 at expiration day in January. The chemical company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings ahead of the opening bell on January 25, after the Jan. 2012 expiry puts will have expired.
BCSI - Blue Coat Systems, Inc. – Investors that bought December expiry call options in the latter half of November saw the value of their positions sky-rocket overnight on news Blue Coat Systems, Inc. agreed to be purchased by an investor group for a reported $1.3 billion. Shares in the provider of Internet-security software jumped 44.5% to $25.27 in the first half of the trading session. Call open interest in the front…
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Options Activity Suggests Tough Week For Halliburton, Clear Skies For JetBlue
by Option Review - December 6th, 2011 2:02 pm
Today’s tickers: HAL, JBLU, DELL & HL
HAL - Halliburton Co. – Shares in the Houston, Texas-based oilfield services provider dropped as much as 5.8% to $34.86 today on reports BP is accusing a unit of the Halliburton Co. of destroying evidence that could have shown the company is also at fault for the deadly explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last year. Options traders expecting the stock to remain under pressure this week placed short-term bearish bets on the stock. Weekly puts that expire at the end of the trading week attracted heavier-than-usual volume, with the Dec. ’09 $35 strike put trading more than 4,400 times against open interest of just 444 contracts. It looks like investor purchased the majority of the $35 strike weekly puts for an average premium of $0.53 each. In-the-money put buyers at this strike stand prepared to profit should the price of the underlying fall another 1.1% to breach the average breakeven point on the downside at $34.47 at expiration. Bears picked up put options at the lower Dec. ’09 $ 34 strike for an average premium of $0.31 each, as well. Approximately 2,700 puts have changed hands at the $34 strike as of 12:30 PM ET. Options implied volatility on Halliburton is up 5.7% at 50.55% in early-afternoon trade.
JBLU - JetBlue Airways Corp. – Investors initiating near-term bullish positions in JetBlue Airways this morning appear to have shown up relatively late to the party, however, late could be better than never as long as the price of the underlying stock continues to rise in the next couple of weeks. Shares in JetBlue Airways Corp. are up 1.7% today to stand at $4.78 as of 11:20 AM ET. The stock has rallied roughly 30.0% since AMR Corp. filed for bankruptcy on November 29. Some traders jumped into JBLU…
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Options Strategist Harvests Gains on EQIX Call Butterfly Spread
by Option Review - April 28th, 2011 5:01 pm
Today’s tickers: EQIX, OMX, TER & JBLU
EQIX - Equinix, Inc. – In the final trading week of 2010 we reported seeing one options strategist purchase a sizable bullish call butterfly spread on Equinix. It has been nearly four months to the day since the investor paid a net premium of $3.10 per contract for the June $85/$100/$115 call ‘fly, and it looks like the trader is reeling in substantial profits today by unraveling the position. Shares in the provider of global data center services are currently up 3.8% to stand at $100.30 as of 11:20am in New York. The company reported first-quarter earnings of $0.53 a share on Wednesday, which beat average analyst expectations of $0.30 a share in net income for the quarter. The trader responsible for the bullish spread nearly hit the nail on the head. On December 29, 2010, shares in Equinox closed the session at $81.20. Since then, the stock has climbed roughly 23.5% to today’s price. While the upward move in the price of the underlying happened a bit more quickly than estimated, the trader’s predictions for the magnitude of the move were pretty much spot on. It appears the investor closed out the spread this morning, selling 15,000 calls at the now deep in-the-money June $85 strike for a hefty premium of $16.20 each, bought back the 30,000 short calls at the June $100 strike for a premium of $4.70 each, and sold 15,000 of the June $115 strike call options at a premium of $0.30 a-pop. The trader takes in net premium of $7.10 per contract by closing out the spread, and therefore realizes net profits of $4.00 per contract, or around $6 million in total, after accounting for the initial cost of buying the spread at $3.10 apiece. Had Equinix’s shares risen more slowly, hitting $100.00 at expiration in June, the investor could have realized maximum potential profits of $11.90 per contract. But, in the end the investor’s predictions for EQIX’s performance and the…
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Savient-Bull Buys Ratio Call Spread
by Option Review - December 18th, 2009 4:13 pm
Today’s tickers: SVNT, JBLU, ROST, RVSN, MRVL, RYL, ARIA, WLP, S, BCR & ORCL
SVNT – Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – A ratio call spread implemented on biopharmaceutical company, Savient Pharmaceuticals, this afternoon indicates shares may shift higher by expiration in January 2010. SVNT’s shares increased 1% during the session to stand at $12.80. The spread involved the purchase of 2,400 calls at the in-the-money January 12.5 strike for an average premium of 1.34 apiece, marked against the sale of 4,800 calls at the higher January 14 strike for 62 pennies each. The net cost of the trade amounts to just 10 cents per contract. The investor responsible for the bullish play stands ready to accrue maximum potential profits of 1.40 per contract if the stock jumps to $14.00 by expiration. The increase in demand for option contracts on the stock boosted Savient’s option implied volatility reading 15% during the trading day from an opening reading of 75.22% to an intraday high of 86.56%.
JBLU – JetBlue Airways Corp. – Investors initiated bullish stances on JetBlue this afternoon despite the 2% decline in value of the underlying shares during the trading session to $5.48. Fresh call positions were taken in the March and June contracts by traders preparing for a JBLU-rally. A chunk of 5,000 calls were purchased at the March 6.0 strike for a premium of 40 cents per contract. The investor responsible for the transaction breaks even if shares of the airline increase 17% over the current price to $6.40 by March’s expiration. Option traders purchased at least 1,700 calls at the June 6.0 strike for 65 cents premium apiece. Profits accumulate if and when JBLU’s shares rise 21.5% to surpass the breakeven point at $6.65. The increase in investor demand for option contracts on the stock lifted option implied volatility 13.57% to an intraday high of 55.55%.
ROST – Ross Stores, Inc. – The second-largest off-price retailer of brand-name apparel and home accessories in the U.S. appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner in late-afternoon trading. One investor established a ratio put spread on the stock in the February 2010 contract. Shares are down 1% to $43.88 with approximately one hour remaining in the trading session. The option trader purchased 2,000 puts at the in-the-money February 45 strike for 2.60 apiece, and sold 4,000 puts at the lower February 42.5 strike for 1.40 each. The investor…
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW. She manages the Favorites backup site
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