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Posts Tagged ‘YHOO’

Bearish Play In Lululemon Puts Suggests Rally May Sour

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: LULU, YHOO, PCS & COF

LULU - Lululemon Athletica, Inc. – Shares in the maker of high-end athletic apparel jumped 7.5% to $50.55 today after the stock was added to the Conviction Buy List at Goldman Sachs, but one options trade on LULU seems to be saying the price of the underlying may head downward, dog. It looks like the buyer of a 1,000-lot January $43.75/$48.75 bear put spread on Lululemon paid a net premium of $1.24 per contract to position for potential double-digit declines in the share price through expiration later in the month. The spread prepares the investor to profit should LULU’s shares drop at least 6.0% to breach the effective breakeven price of $47.51, with maximum potential profits of $3.76 per contract ripe for harvest in the event the stock declines 13.5% to settle below $43.75 at expiration day. Shares in the apparel retailer dipped below $43.75 as recently as December 15.

YHOO - Yahoo!, Inc. – A massive transaction in Yahoo! options signals confidence in the Internet-media giant by at least one large player following the company’s announcement it has appointed PayPal President, Scott Thompson, to serve as its new CEO. The decision to appoint Thompson did not help shares today, however, with the stock currently down 2.7% at $15.84 as of 12:25 PM in New York. The largest single trade on YHOO today, a one-by-two ratio call spread, suggests the price of the underlying may post limited gains during the first seven months of 2012. It looks like the strategist purchased 20,000 calls at the July $16 strike for a premium of $1.92 each, and sold 40,000 calls up at the July $19 strike at a premium of $0.67 apiece. Selling twice as many $19 strike calls significantly reduces net premium paid on the spread to $0.59 per…
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Bulls Drive Up Volume In Yahoo! Options

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: YHOO, LIZ & SFI

YHOO - Yahoo!, Inc. – Shares in Yahoo!, Inc. surrendered gains enjoyed earlier in the session, to trade 0.40% lower on the day at $15.56 just after 2:00 PM on the East Coast. The stock rose earlier in the day after All Things Digital reported that Yahoo’s Chairman and other board members are formally meeting with two private equity firms that have made bids for the Internet company. The report was followed by heavy bullish options activity on the stock in the April 2012 contract, where it appears one or more traders enacted massive three-legged bullish spreads to position for shares to rally. It looks like the investor or investors responsible for initiating the activity sold April 2012 $14 strike put options in order to partially offset the cost of buying the April 2012 $16/$20 call spread, all for an average net premium outlay of $0.30 per contract. Of the more than 44,000 option contracts that changed hands at each strike price, it appears most of the overall volume at each was tied up in the spread. The bullish position may be a profitable one at expiration next year if Yahoo’s shares exceed the average breakeven price of $16.30. Maximum potential profits of $3.70 are available to traders should the price of the underlying soar 28.5% to exceed $20.00 at April expiration day.

LIZ - Liz Claiborne, Inc. – A large three-legged options combination on Liz Claiborne this afternoon indicates one strategist is prepared for shares in the owner of a portfolio of premium retail brands to pull back. Shares in LIZ are currently down 1.3% to stand at $8.13 as of 1:50 PM ET. It looks like the investor received a net credit of $0.01 per contract on the sale of 10,000 calls at the April 2012 $9.0…
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Options Strategy Suggests Yahoo! May be Next Comeback Kid

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: YHOO, USU, XLK & HGSI

YHOO - Yahoo!, Inc. – The more than 21% correction in the value of Yahoo’s shares since the start of May has one options strategist positioning for a rebound in the price of the underlying by August expiration. Shares in the online media company are down 0.50% today to stand at $14.82 in early-afternoon trade. The bullish options player picked up 7,500 in-the-money calls at the August $14 strike for a premium of $1.41 each, and sold the same number of calls up at the August $18 strike at a premium of $0.18 a-pop. Net premium paid to initiate the spread amounts to $1.23 per contract. Thus, the strategist profits if shares in YHOO rally 2.8% to exceed the effective breakeven price of $15.23 at expiration. Maximum potential profits of $2.77 per contract are available to the call spreader should shares surge 21.5% over the current price of $14.82 to exceed $18.00 at expiration day in August. Yahoo! reports second-quarter earnings after the final bell on July 19. Shares in YHOO last traded above $18.00 back on May 11.

USU - USEC Inc. – Call options on the supplier of low enriched uranium (LEU) for commercial power plants are active this morning, but it looks like the largest transaction in USU options was initiated by an investor taking a bearish stance on the stock. Shares in the Bethesda, MD-based company are down 0.30% to stand at $3.07 just before 12:00pm on the East Coast. The strategist responsible for the bulk of USU options volume today initiated a call credit spread, selling 6,300 calls at the October $4.0 strike for a premium of $0.41 each, and buying the same number of calls up at the October $5.0 strike at a premium of $0.30 apiece. The…
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Wednesday: Wiping Out All of 2011′s Gains!

S&P 1,260.  That’s the line we need to hold.

That’s where we started the Year on January 3rd and we finished that day at 1,271, beginning a fine tradition of making almost all of our gains on the first day of the month, continuing a very disturbing (and very fake) year-long trend that I am calling "sell the next day (of the month) and go away." (chart by Bespoke).

Notice that this trend became very disturbing at the same time Uncle Ben announced his fabulous QE2 plan that showered money on his fellow Banksters according to a nice, predictable schedule that allowed them to lever up their investments to inflate stocks and commodities, trapping index fund investors (especially the working poor who make monthly contributions to IRA and 401K accounts in a nice, predictable and controllable fashion).  It’s a simple plan, index fund managers get your pension money at the end of the month, they are required to buy baskets of stocks to balance their funds and that action can be manipulated by clever bankers who jack up the prices and then sell into the fake demand they created – effectively stealing tens of Billions each month out of the paychecks of working Americans.  Just another one of those great crimes they commit where they steal a little bit of money from everyone, every day.  

Speaking of robbing from the rich to give to the poor (see "The Dooh Nibor Economy"), it’s time we said happy 10th anniversary to the Bush/Obama tax cuts that have, as Barry Ritholtz put it: "driven the balanced budget he inherited from President Clinton deep into the red."  So deep in the red, in fact, that even now Congress is still debating about extending the $14.5Tn deficit that the Congressional Budget Office says will double over the next 10 years if these cuts remain in place.  

That’s right, those same tax cuts that are "off the table" in negotiations in Congress are, other than war spending, the sole cause of our nation’s deficit.  This country does not have a spending problem, it has a collecting problem!  As Mike Konczal, a research fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, noted: "It’s not like this has unleashed a wave of productivity, or better incentives, or increased work output. It’s mostly just rich people got a lot more money."

According to Citizens for
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Fickle Friday – Google Goes Down as Costs Inflate

Well who’d have thunk it? 

The cost of doing business is rising and GOOG happens to be one of those businesses that lacks pricing power as their rates are generally set through an auction process and their users have to VOLUNTEER to pay more money to advertise.  Most advertisers on Google are on fixed budgets, like MSM advertisers and Google has done a great job of replicating that model.  Why then, should it be surprising if a maturing Google begins to look more like a traditional media outlet than a dot com company with exploding growth?  

Don’t get me wrong, we love Google long-term but we did short them as well as BIDU into Google earnings as we felt Google would disappoint enough to spook BIDU investors as well.  We’re taking the short money and running and looking for some bullish plays now – the drop from $630 last month to $545 today is plenty of froth blown off the top for us to get long-term interested again.  As you can see from the tag cloud of the Conference Call, growth is still there, especially in mobile display ads (Android a bit disappointing) and no major negatives.  I’m not going to write a whole thing about GOOG though, there are thousands of people doing that and our Members know well enough where I stand.  I’m more interested in examining the bigger picture.  

We expected Q1 earnings to be rough and we’ve already seen FDX, NKE, ORCL, RIMM, FAST, FCS and AA struggle so hopefully you don’t have to be hit on the head with another whole week of earnings before you get a little more cautious.  Next week we hear from C, HAL, LLY, TXN, BK, GS, INTC, IBM, SYK, USB, VMW and YHOO on Monday and Tuesday and then we’re off to the races with hundreds of companies reporting each week for the rest of the month.  Our job in the first few weeks of earnings season is to get a feel for the quarter and, so far, that feeling is rough.  

It’s all about inflation, of course and don’t say we didn’t warn you about that one!  We went more  bearish up at those 100% lines we’ve been watching and now the question really is – how bad was it?  Inflation is, after all, our long-term BULLISH premise.  We don’t think corporations
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Stampede of Bulls into Goldcorp Calls as Shares Hit Two-Year Highs

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: GG, LINE, IYR & YHOO

GG - Goldcorp, Inc. – Shares of the gold mining company are trading up at their highest in more than 2 years, and a number of options traders are betting Goldcorp’s shares have more room to run in the near term. Call options on GG are in high demand, with more than 3.1 calls changing hands on the stock for each single put option in action today. Shares in the name are currently up 3.5% at an intraday- and new 2-year high of $49.50. Investors expecting the price of the underlying to continue to move higher picked up more than 1,750 calls at the March $50 strike for an average premium of $0.84 apiece. Traders exchanged more than 6,600 calls up at the March $52.5 strike versus previously existing open interest of just 537 contracts. The majority of the calls, or roughly 4,500 contracts, were purchased at the March $52.5 strike for an average premium of $0.29 a-pop. Call buyers at this strike start making money if shares in Goldcorp rally another 6.6% over today’s high of $49.50 to surpass the average breakeven point at $52.79 by March expiration. Options implied volatility on the gold mining company increased 8.0% to 30.88% by 12:45pm.

LINE - Linn Energy LLC – The oil and natural gas company popped up on our scanners this morning due to options activity in the July contract. The spread appears to be the work of an investor positioning for shares to hit a new 52-week high ahead of expiration. Shares in Linn Energy LLC are down slightly by 0.33% to stand at $38.70 in early afternoon trade. It looks like the strategist responsible for the transaction sold 2,000 puts at the July $36 strike for a premium of $1.15 per contract…
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Call Options Fly Off the Shelves at Yahoo!

www.interactivebrokers.com

 Today’s tickers: YHOO, TSN, BJ & CEPH

YHOO - Yahoo, Inc. – Large prints in Yahoo! call options today indicate some strategists see shares in the name rising in the next couple of months. Shares in the online media company rallied as much as 1.8% today to trade around $16.87 by 12:00pm in New York. A massive call spread appears to have been purchased in the April contract. The investor responsible for the transaction purchased 46,500 calls at the April $18 strike for a premium of $0.50 each, and sold the same number of calls at the higher April $20 strike at a premium of $0.20 a-pop. Net premium paid to initiate the spread amounts to $0.30 per contract. Thus, the investor responsible for the spread is poised to profit should shares in Yahoo! rally 8.5% over today’s high of $16.87 to surpass the effective breakeven price of $18.30 ahead of April expiration. Maximum potential profits of $1.70 per contract are available to the investor if shares in YHOO jump 18.6% to trade above $20.00 before the options expire in April. Earlier in the session, another bullish player initiated a similar spread, buying around 5,000 calls at the March $17 strike for an average premium of $0.54 each, and selling the same number of calls at the higher March $19 strike at an average premium of $0.19 apiece. The net cost of the transaction amounts to $0.35 per contract and positions the trader to make money in the event that Yahoo’s shares rise above $17.35 by March expiration. The sharp rise in demand for options on Yahoo! sent the overall reading of options implied volatility on the stock up 10.6% to 33.41% in early afternoon trade.

TSN - Tyson Foods, Inc. – Bullish options traders are picking up calls on the producer of chicken, beef, pork and prepared food products this morning ahead of the firm’s first-quarter earnings report, scheduled for release before the market opens on Friday. Shares in Tyson Foods increased as much as…
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Demand for Puts Pops at Regions Financial as Shares Slide Lower

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: RF, YHOO, ORLY, CTV, HNZ, STX, SMH & GT

RF - Regions Financial Corp. – Bears are piling into put options on Regions Financial Corp. today after Fitch Ratings cut Alabama’s biggest lender by two levels to –BBB, citing concerns the firm may post additional losses. Regions’ credit rating was also downgraded two notches to Ba3 from Ba1 at Moody’s yesterday. Shares have been hammered lower over the past four weeks, and today declined as much as 7.22% to touch an intraday- and new 52-week low of $5.14. Today’s low of $5.14 marks a 46.5% decline since October 21, 2010, when shares touched an intraday high of $7.53. Investors expecting shares to extend losses over the next several months purchased large numbers of put options on the stock. Bearish players picked up at least 9,000 puts at the December $5.0 strike for an average premium of $0.28 each and purchased approximately 10,000 puts at the lower December $4.0 strike at an average premium of $0.20 apiece. Lower-strike put buyers are positioned to profit should Regions’ shares slide another 26% below today’s intraday low point of $5.14 to breach the effective breakeven point on the downside at $3.80 by expiration day in December. Pessimism spread to the January 2011 $4.0 strike where another 3,800 put options were coveted at an average premium of $0.20 a-pop. The surge in demand for put options coupled with growing uncertainty regarding the fate of RF’s shares going forward helped lift the stock’s overall reading of options implied volatility 27.4% to 90.77% by 3:50 pm in New York.

YHOO - Yahoo!, Inc. – Shares in Yahoo! are up 5.35% to $17.01 as of 2:40 pm in New York, but earlier rallied as much as 6.315% to hit an intraday high of $17.17. Call options on…
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Bearish Player Initiates Ratio Put Spread at Staples

www.interactivebrokers.com

Today’s tickers: SPLS, XCO, THC, FTO, YHOO, ERTS, LNC & GE

SPLS - Staples, Inc. – The supplier of office products popped up on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner late in the trading session after one investor initiated a bearish spread in the December contract. Staples’ shares are currently down 0.80% at $20.64 as of 3:15 p.m. in New York. The pessimistic player established a ratio put spread, buying 2,500 in-the-money puts at the December $21 strike for an average premium of $1.185 each, and selling 5,000 puts at the lower December $19 strike at an average premium of $0.39 apiece. The average net cost of the transaction amounts to $0.405 per contract. Thus, the investor is prepared to make money if the price of the underlying stock slips beneath the effective breakeven point on the spread at $20.595 by expiration day in December. Maximum potential profits of $1.595 per contract are available to the ratio-spreader if the office products company’s shares fall 7.945% from the current price of $20.64 to settle at $19.00 at expiration. The investor is vulnerable to losses in the event that Staples’ shares plummet far lower than he expects they will in the next several months. Losses start to accumulate for the trader if shares drop 15.7% lower and trade below the lower breakeven point at $17.405 by expiration day. Staples, Inc. is slated to report third-quarter earnings ahead of the opening bell on November 18, 2010.

XCO - EXCO Resources, Inc. – The oil and natural gas company was visited by one long-term bullish options investor in the second half of the trading session. It looks like the trader is expecting EXCO’s shares to rally significantly by expiration day in March of 2011. Shares of the Dallas, TX-based firm are up 2.05% at…
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Zero Hedge

The Cost Of The Combined Greek Bailout Just Rose To €320 Billion In Secured Debt, Or 136% Of Greek GDP

Courtesy of ZeroHedge. View original post here.

Submitted by Tyler Durden.

Some of our German readers may be laboring under the impression that following the €110 billion first Greek bailout agreed upon and executed in May 2010, the second Greek bailout would cost a "mere" €130 billion. Alas we have new for you - as of this morning, the formal cost of rescuing Greece for the adjusted adjusted adjusted second time has just risen to €145 billion, €175 billion, a whopping €210 billion, bringing the total explicit cost of all Greek bailout funds to date (and many more in sto...



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Chart School

Best Stock Market Indicator Ever: Weekend Update

Courtesy of Doug Short.

The $OEXA200R (the percentage of S&P 100 stocks above their 200 DMA) is a technical indicator available on StockCharts.com that can be used to forecast conservative entry and exit points for the stock market.

The OEXA is used to find the "sweet spot" time period in the market when you have the best chance of making money. See Is This the Best Stock Market Indicator Ever? for a discussion of this technical tool.

The chart below is current through the February 3rd close.


After a major S&P correction, the conditions for safe re-entry into the market are when:

   a) $OEXA200R rises above 65%. And two of the following three...

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Phil's Favorites

Violent Protests in Greece; 6 Cabinet Members Resign

Violent Protests in Greece; 6 Cabinet Members Resign; LAOS leader "I Would Rather Starve Than be Under German Jackboot"; Controversy Over Missing Paragraphs

Courtesy of Mish

Imagine you are asked to sign a document but three pages were missing. Further imagine the documents you were asked to sign were written in English but you only speak Greek. Would you sign?

That is exactly the predicament Greek officials were placed in by the Troika. Here is the story sent to me by Demetri Kofinas at Capital Account.

Hello Mish

George Karatzaferis leader of LOAS political party gave a speech today addressing why he refused to sign this latest agreement. In his speech, he said that he a...

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Sabrient

Sabrient Risers - 2/11/2012

Top 5 RisersStockRatingAnalysisICABUYThe 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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Insider Scoop

Benzinga's M&A Chatter for Friday February 10, 2012

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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Market Montage

And Still Not a Single 1% Down Day in 2012

Submitted by Mark Hanna

Courtesy of MarketMontage. View original post here.

A little flurry of buying in the closing 5 minutes tacked on 2 S&P points and took the major indexes off the lows.  Only the Russell 2000 finished with a greater than 1% loss (1.4%) as it has been relatively weak versus the senior indexes for the past few sessions.   While today was the "worst day of the year" – it was quite a low bar as the previous biggest loss on the S&P 500 was -0.57%.

The S&P 500 held well above the 10 day moving average (didn't even really touch it) and did not even attempt to fill the gap from last Friday's employment report.  The teflon market rolls on for now.  Specul...



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ETF Selector

ETFs Skid On Greece (VGK, EWG, FXE, DIA, SPY)

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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All About Trends

Mid-Day Update

Reminder: David is available to chat with Members, comments are found below each post.

Click here for the full report.




To learn more, sign up for David's free newsletter and receive the free report from All About Trends - "How To Outperform 90% Of Wall Street With Just $500 A Week." Tell David PSW sent you. - Ilene...

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Option Review

True Religion Falls Apart At The Seams After Earnings

 

Today’s tickers: TRLG, KR & IGT

...



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OpTrader

Swing trading portfolio - week of February 6th, 2012

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.

To learn more about the swing trading virtual portfolio (strategy, performance, FAQ, etc.), please click here

Optrader 

...

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Stock World Weekly

Stock World Weekly: The Relentless Pursuit of Meaningless Metrics

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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IRA Strategy/Income Trader

Weekend Virtual Portfolio Update 1/30/2012

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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Pharmboy

Biotech Investing for 2012

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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