Wednesday’s Options Alerts

  • September 17, 2002
  • TradingMarkets Editors

The markets gapped up on news
that Iraq would submit to an unconditional inspection by the U.N., though soon
faded into negative territory. Price action held a downtrend for the entire
session, with only feeble attempts to rally midday.

The Dow Jones Industrial
Average (($INDU.X)
closed -2.05% at 8207.55. The S&P 500 ($SPX.X)
closed -1.97% at 873.52. The Nasdaq ($COMPQ)
closed -1.24% at 1259.94.

There were no sectors positive
at the end of the day.

Heavy losses were made in
gold and silver ($XAU.X),
-3.96%, oil service ($OSX.X),
-3.70%, and utilities ($UTIL),
-3.61%.

Volume came back today, as the
major indexes dropped below head-and-shoulders patterns, as well as key support
levels outlined by

Gary Kaltbaum.

The Semiconductor Index
($SOX.X),
-2.10% at 263.56, hit a new three-year low as it closed at the bottom of its
daily range. The Broker/Dealer Index ($XBD.X),
-2.24% at 393.40, closed at the bottom of its range after turning away from its
20-day average at its high today.

U.S. Treasury Bonds
closed up ‘4 at 112 ’29.

In economic news, August
industrial production fell 0.3% for its first decline of the year. Analysts
were looking for a 0.2% increase. Also, capacity utilization fell 76%,
which was within expectations.

Volume was better than
average at 1,326,960,000
on the NYSE, and 1,482,673,000
on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was negative,
with NYSE declining issues over advancing issues by a ratio of 2.33, and down
volume over up volume by a 6.49 ratio. Nasdaq declining issues over advancing
issues came in at 1.76, and down volume beat up volume by a 3.16 ratio.

The

VIX was +1.42 at 41.96. The

TRIN was +1.78 at 2.80.

The only Dow gainers were
AT&T Corp. (T),
+2.51% at 12.63, and Walt Disney (DIS),
+1.01% at 15.98.

Leading the Dow down was
McDonalds (MCD),
-12.72% at 18.93, as they announced earnings for the year will come in less than
expected. Also down were American Express (AXP),
-4.56% at 33.25, Alcoa (A),
-3.45% at 21.52, and Coca Cola (KO),-3.31%
at 49.00 . 

 

Points of Significance:


Volatility Index
Close
Net Change
Signals/Direction
% Above/Below 10 Day
Moving Average
Significance

(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)		 41.96
 UP
1.42 		None 3.57%
Above 		Not
At Extreme
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)		 60.38
 UP
2.35
 None 4.67%
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
McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)		 -12.81 24523 3635

Household International
(
HI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-12.11
12863
5788
New Century
Financial
(
NCEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)		 -10.99 1008 280

MGIC Investment
(
MTG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-11.10
691
310
Dollar Tree Stores
(
DLTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)		 +8.86 1093 148

Polaris Industries
(
PII |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+9.31
654
233

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
Amerisource Bergen
(
ABC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)		 45.6 35.4 58.6 26.8

Kinder Morgan
(
KMI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
59.6
47.0
61.9
35.0

Texas Utilities
(
TXU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
42.9
34.3
61.6
16.8

Golden State Bancorp
(
GSB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
18.1
14.5
35.1
10.3

Annaly Mortgage
(
NLY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
57.6
46.4
46.8
36.1

Brookline Bankcorp
(
BRKL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
30.6
25.0
36.3
21.3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spike Down


Name
Symbol
IV
Previous IV
High IV
Low IV
PennzEnergy Corp.
(
PZL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)		 10.6 14.0 43.2 12.9

Allied Capital
(
ALD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
39.5
49.1
84.2
28.1
National Commerce
Financial
(
NCF |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)		 29.7 34.9 36.6 21.6

Please use stops on every trade!