Phillips 66 Puts Active
by Option Review - July 2nd, 2013 8:04 pm
Today’s tickers: PSX, DKS & IYT
PSX - Phillips 66 Company – Shares in Phillips 66 are trading lower today, down 2.0% at $57.70 as of 10:55 a.m. ET. Options changing hands on the operator of refineries indicates some traders are bracing for the price of the underlying to extend losses this week. The most actively traded contracts on Phillips 66 as measured by volume are the Jul 05 ’13 $57.5 strike puts, with volume in excess of 5,400 contracts at present versus open interest of 2,436 contracts. It looks like traders purchased most of the volume for an average premium of $0.43 apiece this morning. Put buyers may profit at expiration at the end of a shortened U.S. trading week should shares in Phillips decline another 1.1% to settle below the average breakeven price of $57.07. Traders appear to be snapping up the $57.5 strike weekly puts for a second consecutive session given the roughly 2,300-lot overnight increase in put open interest at that strike. Time and sales data suggests most of the puts were purchased for an average premium of $0.35 each on Monday. Shares in Phillips 66, up 70% since this time last year, have declined roughly 18% off a record high of $70.52 reached back in March.
DKS - Dick’s Sporting Goods, Inc. – Options on Dick’s Sporting Goods are more active than usual today, with much of the trading traffic concentrated in August expiry puts. More than 10,400 of the Aug $45 strike puts have changed hands as of 11:50 a.m. ET versus open interest of 15 contracts. Shares in DKS are currently down 0.50% on the day at $49.75. Trading in the bearish options on DKS this morning is pushing up the premium required to purchase the contracts. Roughly 650 of the $45 puts were purchased at a…
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Bullish Bets On TD Ameritrade Generating Big Paper Profits
by Option Review - March 8th, 2013 2:27 pm
Today’s tickers: AMTD, TPX & DKS
AMTD - TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. – Large bullish bets in August expiry options on online broker, TD Ameritrade, are trading for a third consecutive week, with shares in the name up 11% since the beginning of March to stand at $20.72 as of midday in New York on Friday. Big prints in Aug. $23 strike calls attracted some attention on February 28th, after roughly 40,000 of those contracts were purchased for a premium of $0.25 apiece. The following week on March 5th, another 40,000 contracts changed hands at the Aug. $23 strike at a premium of $0.35 each. This morning, it looks like another 20,000 of the Aug. $23 strike call options were purchased at a premium of $0.65 apiece. The contracts purchased at the end of February have more than doubled in value and the calls picked up last week have appreciated substantially as of the time of this writing. Continued gains in the price of the underlying ahead of August expiration may generate additional paper profits on these positions. Upside calls purchased on AMTD this morning make money at August expiration as long as shares in the online broker surge 14% to exceed the breakeven price of $23.65.
TPX - Tempur-Pedic International, Inc. – Shares in premium mattress maker, Tempur-Pedic, jumped 9.0% to $46.44 on Friday morning after the Federal Trade Commission cleared the company’s planned acquisition of Sealy Corp. in a transaction valued at approximately $1.3 billion. The sharp move in the price of the underlying shares sparked heavy trading traffic in TPX options at the start of the session; overall volume is above 13,000 contracts as of 11:00 a.m. ET, versus the stock’s average daily volume of around 11,750 contracts. One strategist appears to be taking a bearish stance on the stock through April expiration, with shares in TPX having increased 45% year-to-date and more than 120% since June of 2012. It looks like the trader initiated a ratio put spread, buying 300 puts at the April…
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Just Another Manic Monday – Retail Edition
by phil - November 16th, 2009 8:17 am
![[Growth and Deflation chart]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-BC020B_JECON_NS_20091115220414.gif)
Good morning!
Japan had a huge GDP beat (+1.2% for the Q, 4.8% annualized)) and they leaked it early (to oil executives!) but, strangely, deflation is accelerating at the same time. That’s great news for stimulus watchers as the government can continue to pump money into the economy, even while it’s growing and, of course, the carry trade can continue.
Despite the robust third-quarter report, Japanese officials said they were still concerned about the economy’s strength going forward, and didn’t intend to pull back plans for further spending to ensure continued growth.
"There is no change in the severe condition of the country’s economy," Naoto Kan, the deputy prime minister, told reporters after the report’s release. "We are concerned about whether the economy falls into a deflationary situation," he added.
The domestic demand deflator — a measure of changes in prices of goods and services, excluding exports and imports — plunged 2.6%, the fastest pace since 1958. It was the third straight quarter of falling prices.
Another sign of concern in the report: The contribution of private consumer spending to growth slipped in the third quarter, suggesting measures to convert Japan from export-led growth to domestic-demand-led growth were facing limits. In the third quarter, private consumer spending, rose 0.7%, compared with a revised 1% climb in the second quarter.
It’s all stimulus but there’s no sign stimulus is stopping so party on markets. Japan also got a huge benefit from the Chinese auto sales – more stimulus! The Nikkei itself isn’t thrilled and is up just 0.25%, barely hitting Friday’s high on a stick-save into the close but that didn't stopping the futures from jumping up more than half a point and gold from hitting $1,130. I sent out an Alert to Members at 2:24 this morning saying:
"Once the Nikkei closes (2am EST) the Hang Seng will have an hour to themselves and that should top out our futures (the Hang Seng is up at 22,900 (+1.5%). The shorting move on gold futures is to short them as they cross below $1,130 with zero tolerance for holding gold above that line. The same can be done with the S&P futures at 1,100, the Dow at 10,316 and the Nas at 1,800 and you can even use the 2 out of 4 rule to…
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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.
