Friday’s Options Alerts
We didn’t get any
follow through after yesterday’s huge reversal. It
was another volatile session, but the SEC investigation into AOL-Timer Warner,
negative comments about the chip industry, and mixed economic data weighed down
the market. After having been up 118 points in the morning, the Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reversed course and ended the day down only about 5 points. The S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell 4.75 points, and the Nasdaq
(
$COMPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the hardest hit as it
dropped 50 points or 3.88%, thanks to weakness in the Internet and chip stocks.
This lack of follow though has been very common in this bear market.
On the
economic front, June durable goods orders came in much worse than expected as it
dropped 3.8% while economists were expecting a 0.7% increase. However weekly initial
jobless claims fell by a larger-than-expected 21,000 to an 18-month low of
362,000.
The VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapped higher at the open, ran
slightly higher, and closed near the lower third of its range. This shift
in intraday sentiment again shows a decrease in fear. No more CVR signals were
tirggered today. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapped lower, opened near its
lows,
and closed near the highs of the day. The VXN didn’t trigger any CVR signals
either.
Points of Significance:
Taiwan Semiconductor
(
TSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 18% on more than five times its average volume. The
company reported second-quarter results were below expectations, but they
dropped the bomb on the semiconductor sector when they cut their capital
spending for the rest of the year.
Scios
(
SCIO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) jumped 7% on more than four times its average volume. The
stock reported a smaller-than-expected loss of 42 cents a shares compared to
estimates of 59 cents a share.
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 44.65 |
DOWN 0.64 |
NONE |
3.45% Above |
Not At Extreme |
| VXN | 69.48 |
UP 3.89 |
NONE |
6.47 % Above |
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 |
| Taiwan Semiconductor |
TSM |
– 18.49 |
6072 |
2240 |
| Haliburton |
HAL |
+ 11.96 |
11744 |
4681 |
| Zimmer Holdings |
ZMH |
+ 9.47 |
1310 |
215 |
| Scios Inc. |
SCIO |
+ 6.95 |
1863 |
268 |
| Neurocrine Biosciences |
NBIX |
+ 6.64 |
934 |
118 |
| Stericycle |
SRCL |
+ 4.70 |
1042 |
458 |
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 |
| Pennzoil-Quaker State |
PZL |
26.5 |
17.7 |
43.2 |
14.8 |
| Duane Reade |
DRD |
66.4 |
51.9 |
46.6 |
28.9 |
| Manhattan Associates |
MANH |
137.3 |
115 |
108.1 |
70.6 |
| Lifepoint Hospitals |
LPNT |
77.1 |
65.3 |
55.1 |
38.7 |
| ITT Industries |
ITT |
39.2 |
33.5 |
34.9 |
19.4 |
| Laboratory Corp. |
LH |
88.7 |
76.1 |
63.4 |
24.2 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Sigma Aldrich |
SIAL |
358.5 |
50.2 |
37.6 |
27.6 |
| Amgen |
AMGN |
51 |
69.4 |
73.3 |
28.4 |
| Ambac Financial |
ABK |
39.6 |
48.7 |
40.9 |
22.9 |
| Coors |
RKY |
38.2 |
45.3 |
36.3 |
22.9 |
| Burlington Northern |
BNI |
28.1 |
33 |
29 |
24.7 |
| Ferro Corp. |
FOE |
24.1 |
28.3 |
25.3 |
23.3 |
Please use stops on every trade!