Wednesday’s Options Alerts
Stocks sank today as the biggest drop in consumer
confidence in over seven years scared investors about the future of the economy.
Earnings warnings from Openwave Systems
(
OPWV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), CVS
(
CVS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) as well as more terrorist warnings helped to add fuel to the
fire. Today’s action had the VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapping up above its 10-day
moving average. The VIX opened near the bottom of its range and closed in the
lower half of its range. Today’s economic and corporate news did put more fear
back into the market, but fear has subsided somewhat intraday. No CVR signals
were triggered today for the VIX. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) exhibited similar
behavior as it opened near today’s low and closed in the lower half of the
range. Despite the gap up in the VXN this morning, fear has subsided intraday.
Just like the VIX, no CVR signals were triggered today.
Points of Significance:
Tanox Inc.
(
TNOX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) failed an ascending
triangle pattern. The stock broke below its 20- and 50-day moving averages, but
managed to close above its 50-day moving average. Tanox is also near its .618
retracement level at 15.95. Option volume was heavy today as it traded
over five times its average daily contract volume. Enron
(
ENE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
continued its descent on over six times its average daily volume today. Option
volume was over four times average. Enron’s implied volatility is once again at
a new high. This suggest that its options are getting expensive. Praxair
(
PX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
is pulling back from recent highs. Implied volatility is also approaching the
high side. United Stationers
(
USTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) broke above its 20-day moving average
and close right on its 200-day moving average for day. Its implied volatility is
at a new high. Qualcomm
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is approaching potential support at its
20-day moving average and its .50 retracement level from its October lows. Â
Â
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 35.15 | UP 2.76 | NONE | 3.69 % Above | Not At Extreme |
| VXN | 63.41 | UP 3.12 | NONE | 0.55 % Under |
Not At Extreme |
Â
Abnormal Options Volume With Price
Movement – Abnormal options volume (calls and puts)
with stock price movement
| Name | Symbol | Net % Change |
Volume | Avg. Volume |
| CVS | CVS | – 23 | 1529 | 408 |
| Enron | ENE | – 19.18 |
90418 | 22136 |
| CSG Systems |
CSGS | – 18.97 |
319 | 105 |
| Tanox Inc. |
TNOX | – 15.81 |
1040 | 183 |
| Corixa Corp | CRXA | – 14.41 | 1567 | 220 |
| Pacificare Health Systems |
PHSY | – 14.08 |
999 | 426 |
Â
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 |
| Enron | ENE | 140.6 | 112.4 | 102.9 | 38.5 |
| Macrovision Corp. | MVSN | 102.2 | 87.2 | 106.8 | 57.2 |
| Praxair | PX | 43.6 | 37.4 | 43.7 | 27.3 |
| Exxon Mobil | XOM | 29.8 | 25.6 | 36.2 | 20.4 |
| Serono SA | SRA | 47.7 | 41.6 | 52.7 | 34.9 |
| Qualcomm | QCOM | 78.5 | 68.7 | 96.1 | 54.7 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Telefonos de Chile | CTC | 33.3 | 41.8 | 50.4 | 26.2 |
| Manulife Financial Corp |
MFC | 34.8 | 42.1 | 40.9 | 21.4 |
| Cali Realty | CLI | 183 | 21.4 | 28.8 | 18.8 |
| United Stationers | USTR | 33.4 | 39 | 51.8 | 32.2 |
| Newport News Shipbldg. | NNS | 19.9 | 23.2 | 42.2 | 14.6 |
| Dial Corp. | DL | 44.6 | 39.3 | 55.1 | 28.9 |
Please use stops on every trade!