Thursday’s Options Alerts
The major market averages looked to
close lower for the third consecutive session, however a late-afternoon rally
pushed them into the green. With the rising conflict in India/Pakistan and more
threats of terrorism, feelings of uneasiness were definitely in the markets today.
Gold stocks were once again the strongest performers as the June gold futures
contract ran up to a new contract high of $318.50. Oils and utilities were also
strong. Techs, drugs, and biotech rebounded somewhat today, but could be
potential short setups. For more information on today’s action, please refer to
the market
recap.
The VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened near
its highs and closed near the lows of the day. This shift in intraday
sentiment suggests a decrease in fear. This reversal in investor sentiment
generated a CVR
I buy signal. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened its highs and close near the
mid point of its range. This also shows a decrease fear. Fear went down a bit
after rising for the last two days. Although the market wasn’t actually
oversold yet, we do have a slight bias to the upside after today’s turnaround.
Points of Significance:
Gap Inc.
(
GPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped over 15% on
five times its average volume. The shares were hammered today after the
announcement of its CEO, Millard Drexler. Gap, which includes Old Navy and
Banana Republic has been in a sales slump for the past two years. Shares of Gap
have also broken below an intermediate term uptrend.
Invision Technologies
(
INVN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
gained over 10% on double its average volume. The shares have come back to life
as revived news on possible terrorist attacks are again making headlines.
The stock broke above its 200-day moving average today, but has resistance up
ahead at its .382 retracement level at 25.43.
Symantec
(
SYMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell almost 8% on double its average volume.
The shares came under heavy selling pressure after Goldman Sachs cut estimates
for Symantec as well as 25 other software companies after a report indicated
that IT spending would remain flat for the rest of the year.
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 21.59 | DOWN 0.97 |
CVR I BUY |
3.7 % Below |
Not At Extreme |
| VXN | 44.70 | UP 0.05 |
NONE | 1.61 % Below |
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 |
| Gap Inc. |
GPS | – 15.31 |
22436 | 1546 |
| InVision Technologies |
INVN | + 10.12 |
5915 | 1767 |
| Symantec | SYMC | – 7.96 |
5198 | 1146 |
| Hotels.com | ROOM | – 4.69 |
1110 | 389 |
| Nvidia | NVDA | + 1.48 |
12017 | 4146 |
| Transocean Offshore |
RIG | + 3.48 |
7289 | 888 |
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 |
| Nisource | NI | 31.5 | 25 | 31.5 | 22.7 |
| Gap Inc. |
GPS | 54.2 | 46.7 | 68.9 | 45.4 |
| Symantec | SYMC | 64.8 | 57.9 | 67.2 | 47.6 |
| Business Objects |
BOBJ | 63.5 | 57.2 | 72.1 | 48.2 |
| Robert Half |
RHI | 35.4 | 31.9 | 47 | 27.8 |
| Vimpel Communications |
VIP | 53.4 | 48.5 | 69.1 | 44.7 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Financial Sector SPDRs |
XLF | 18.4 | 22.4 | 26.3 | 13.6 |
| Allied Capital Corp. |
ALD | 45.7 | 54.6 | 41.1 | 21.5 |
| TECO Energy |
TE | 31 | 36 | 28 | 15.9 |
| Autozone | AZO | 30.5 | 35.3 | 48.5 | 29.6 |
| Albertson’s | ABS | 29.8 | 34 | 32.8 | 22.7 |
| Westwood One |
WON | 27.7 | 31.6 | 51.8 | 31.4 |
Please use stops on every trade!