Thursday’s Options Alerts…
Citrix Systems
(
CTXS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
helped lift the Nasdaq
(
$COMPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) today as it surpassed its earnings estimates and reported an upbeat sales forecast. The Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and S&P 500
(
$SPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) spent most of the trading session in the red, only
to come back during the final minutes of trading. Blue chips traded lower for
most of the session after warnings from AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Eastman Kodak
(
EK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
Today the VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened at the top of its range and closed in the
lower half of its range. This intra-day shift in sentiment implies that fear is
continuing to subside. However the VIX is still near oversold levels,
which continues to suggest that the market is still getting close to being overbought.
Likewise the VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
exhibited similar behavior as it too opened at the top of today’s range but
closed right at the low of today. Once
again this intra-day shift in sentiment continues to suggest that fear is
subsiding. This is evident as VXN has
opened near the top and closed near the bottom of its range for the past four
trading sessions. In addition, the VXN is very close oversold levels which
suggest that Nasdaq stocks are beginning to get overbought.
Points of Significance:
Travelocity.com
(
TVLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) broke below its 50-
and 20-day moving averages on 13 times its average daily volume after
Continental Airlines announced that it would cut commissions for online purchase
of tickets. Checkfree Holdings
(
CKFR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapped down and broke out of a
base on over eight times its average daily
volume. Titan Corporation
(
TTN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) had a titanic day as it gapped up on
over eight times its average daily volume. Servicemaster’s
(
SVM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) implied volatility
is approaching the low end of its scale. The stock is continuing to trade
in a base. Manulife Financial’s
(
MFC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) implied volatility is sitting at a new
high. The stock gapped down on heavy volume today.
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 32.87 | DOWN .32 | NONE | 6.41 % Under | Not at Extreme |
| VXN | 61.91 | DOWN 1.82 |
NONE | 5.90 % Above |
Not at Extreme |
Abnormal Options Volume With Price Movement
– Abnormal options volume (calls and puts) with stock price movement
| Name | Symbol | Net % Change |
Volume | Avg. Volume |
| Travelocity.com | TVLY | – 29.29 | 916 | 105 |
| Checkfree Holdings |
CKFR | – 27.25 |
1309 | 198 |
| Titan Corporation |
TTN | + 17.93 |
6101 | 2798 |
| Fleming Companies |
FLM | -12.16 | 1190 | 247 |
| Dynergy | DYN | – 12.76 | 2957 | 1308 |
| Fairchild Semiconductor |
FCS | +11.84 | 995 | 442 |
Stocks With Biggest Spikes in Implied
Volatility – Stocks with biggest increases or decreases in implied
volatility compared to previous day.
Spike Up
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Health Net, Inc. | HNT | 52.7 | 44.5 | 68.1 | 43.1 |
| Avaya Inc. |
AV | 57.9 | 48.9 | 77.4 | 51.3 |
| Manulife Financial Corp |
MFC | 42.5 | 36.1 | 40.9 | 21.4 |
| Oakley | OO | 73.1 | 62.7 | 83.1 | 53.4 |
| Lifepoint Hospitals |
LPNT | 69.6 | 59.7 | 76.3 | 50.9 |
| Mead Corp. |
MEA | 47.4 | 40.8 | 55.6 | 27.8 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| ServiceMaster | SVM | 23.7 | 31.6 | 42.4 | 21.5 |
| Niagara Mohawk Power |
NMK | 30.4 | 37.4 | 36.6 | 15.8 |
| Expedia, Inc. |
EXPE | 69.4 | 82.6 | 106.7 | 49.7 |
| Northrop Grumman |
NOC | 34.3 | 40.4 | 40.4 | 24.2 |
| Citrix Systems |
CTXS | 80.6 | 94.9 | 102.3 | 61.8 |
| Websense Inc. |
WBSN | 781 | 90 | 99.4 | 71.7 |
Please use stops on every trade!