Friday’s Options Alerts
The major averages
ended mixed today after more warnings and mixed economic data. All three indices
gave up early gains as warnings from Advanced Micro Devices
(
AMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Bank
of New York
(
BK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) kept the selling pressure on the markets.
At the
close, the Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 37.80 points or 0.48%, after gaining over
150 points earlier in the session. DuPont’s
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) upward revision of their
third quarter estimates boosted the blue chip index.Â
The S&P
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell
8.91 points or 1.07%. And the Nasdaq
(
$COMPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 20.98 points or
1.76%. The Naz is on the verge of taking out Monday’s low and falling back to
levels not seen since September of 1996. Semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down
6.46%, banks
(
$BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 6.01, and broker/dealers
(
$XBD.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
down 4.80% were hardest hit today. The SOX, which has been fluttering around its 100%
projection for some time, could be headed toward its 127% projection at
208.87.Â
Best-performing sectors today were telecoms
(
$XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up
2.17%, health care
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 1.55%, and transportation
(
$TRAN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), up
0.95%. The economic news was mixed today
as initial jobless claims climbed higher for the sixth straight week.
Initial claims rose to a higher-than-expected 417,000 topping estimates of
409,000. The four-week moving average also increased to a five-month high of
423,000 from 420,500 last week. However, factory orders and the services sector
did better than expected. Factory orders in August gained 0.5% while economists
were looking for a 0.6% decline. Finally, the September ISM non-manufacturing
index came in at 53.9% vs. estimates of 51.4%.
The VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapped up, opened near the highs of the day and closed
just beneath its open. This shift in intraday sentiment shows a slight
drop in fear.
No CVRs were triggered today. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapped up, opened
near its highs and closed slightly below its open. This shift
in intraday sentiment also shows a small drop in fear.
Points of Significance:
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 44.96 |
UP 1.60 |
NONE |
3.73% Above |
Not At Extreme |
| VXN | 58.21 |
UP 0.06 |
NONE |
0.004% 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 |
| Marvell Technology |
MRVL |
– 10.01 |
4065 |
1781 |
| Wachovia |
WB |
– 7.24 |
4747 |
1799 |
| First Data Corp. |
FDC |
– 7.00 |
5207 |
2566 |
| Merrill Lynch |
MER |
– 5.76 |
26559 |
7553 |
| Kohls |
KSS |
– 5.82 |
17230 |
2634 |
| Suntrust Bank |
STI |
– 5.15 |
3809 |
385 |
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 |
|
Texas Utilities
|
TXU |
68 |
52.5 |
61.6 |
17.3 |
| FPL Group |
FPL |
34.9 |
27.4 |
41.2 |
17.6 |
| UnionBancal |
UB |
39.6 |
32.1 |
39.1 |
21.7 |
| Regions Financial |
RF |
34.1 |
27.8 |
40.0 |
15.8 |
| Pinnacle West Capital |
PNW |
59.8 |
49.7 |
56.8 |
16.7 |
| Marshall Industries |
MI |
36.6 |
30.7 |
34.2 |
15.6 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
|
Annaly Mortgage
|
NLY |
33.9 |
39.9 |
57.7 |
36.1 |
| Edision Int’l |
EIX |
71.2 |
80 |
90.1 |
28.1 |
Please use stops on every trade!