Bush Bulls Wait to Run As Courts Gore Al’s Hopes
Five
weeks after you take your final exam, and your professor tells you that you
passed, he thinks. There was a problem tallying your score, but from all
indications you did well enough to pass, possibly even score an above-average
grade, but he’ll never be able to know with certainty. You so looked forward
to that score, you studied so hard. No time for partying, grad school is
beginning, it’s back to the grindstone and you feel robbed, and the harsh
realities set in.
Most
of the indications show that this holiday market is groping for something about
which to celebrate, but may not find it. With less than a dozen trading days
until this millennial year winds up, it seems that sloppy earnings reports combined with sloppier election reports to pinprick a chance for a robust rally.
Options order flow shows that these players are feeling deprived of their party.
Volatility is being smashed in a lot of areas, as we said it would, once the
Counting Crazies were behind us.
Pre-open
order volume was moderate again today. Overall, call sellers and buyers were
even at 1:1, and put sellers led buyers 5:3. The top five order volume
leaders were as follows:
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
LU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
SUNW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). In pre-bell
activity, MSFT call buyers led call sellers at 2:1, while put buyers trail
sellers 1:7. LU order flow was
heavy, with call sellers leading buyers 9:5 or almost 2:1.
SUNW call buyers led sellers 2:1.
BEAS had some heavier than usual flow, with call sellers outpacing buyers
4:1.
First
hour order
volume was moderate to slightly heavy. Overall, call sellers led buyers 3:2, and put sellers and buyers
are even at 1:1. The top five
order volume leaders were as follows: MSFT, LU,
(
JDSU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
(
QCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
and INTC. MSFT call buyers still lead sellers
2:1, while put buyers
trail sellers 3:4.
(
CPQ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
put sellers lead buyers 3:1. JDSU put sellers lead buyers 4:1. INTC
put buyers are out in force, leading sellers 2:1.
Some
readers have asked how best to use our numbers. “Close to even†numbers
show little directional bias, but high ratios (such as those in MSFT yesterday
and LU today) give strong indications as to which direction that stock will
move. This is not 100% foolproof, of course, that would be too easy, wouldn’t
it? But if you are an options trader, this info does not have to be used to
“jump on board” a directional train to be of value. This information points
to increased liquidity, too, allowing for better trade entry/exit.
Please
send your specific questions to the site and I’ll try to answer them all,
personally.