Staple Remover
The tech sector closed near the low of the day, perhaps in anticipation of
Cisco’s earnings.
The Dow closed up 109.88 at 10976.89 and the Nasdaq Composite was down 14.48
to 3848.51.
The S&P 500 was up 3.49 to 1482.81 and the OEX was up 2.24 to 805.96.
The Arms index closed at .89, up 0.14 from Monday.
Despite the negative activity in the Nasdaq, the AMEX Computer index was able
to post a gain of 11.78, taking it up to 1507.83. This may suggest that the
selling is limited to certain sectors and not characteristic of the broader
market.
The top five most active calls by volume were:
- SPLS December 20s
- MSFT August 70s
- CSCO August 70s
- AOL August 55s
- MSFT August 75s
The top five puts by volume where:
- SPLS September 17 1/2s
- CSCO August 65s
- CSCO August 60s
- MSFT August 70s
- Octobers 70s
This activity in the December Staples
(
SPLS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) calls and September puts
suggests that someone may be selling spreads. Perhaps there’s someone knows
something. Keep an eye on the stock for suspicious price activity.
Once again we primarily saw options activity in the old names, with a little
speculation in Staples. Cisco Systems
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is scheduled to announce
earnings today. This is likely to move the market both in after hours and again
in the morning. Watch for the activity in the futures markets to forecast what’s
to come at Wednesday’s open.
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