Friday’s Options Alerts
It was another seesaw battle today, as
rumors of accounting woes at General Motors
(
GM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) put an early damper on the
markets. However, stocks did show some follow-through, on news of the upwardly
revised first-quarter GDP. The Commerce Department revealed that the first
quarter GDP was 6.1% vs. previous estimates of
5.6%. This was the fastest rate of growth since the fourth quarter of 1999.
Initial jobless claims dropped 10,000 to 388,000, slightly lower than
the 389,000 level expected by economists.
In the end, the Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
jumped almost 150 points or 1.64%, the S&P
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gained 17.11
points or 1.75%. The Nasdaq
(
$COMPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the strongest index as it
jumped almost 30 points or 2.08%. Semiconductors were the strongest performers
today after some positive comments from Lehman Brothers
(
LEH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Motorola
(
MOT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reaffirming their second-quarter and full-year results. Today’s follow through
does suggest that further upside is likely, but remember, we are in a
downtrend. For more information on today’s action, please refer to
the market
recap.
Volatility fell today on news of the
GDP numbers. The VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened in the lower third of its range and closed near the
lows of the day. This shift
in intraday sentiment again shows a big decrease in fear. No CVR signals were
triggered today. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) a opened near the midpoint of its range, and closed
on its lows. This shift in intraday sentiment
also shows a drop in fear. The VXN triggered CVR
1,2,6 buys today.
Points of Significance:
NVIDIA
(
NVDA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped almost 15% on more
than double its average volume. The shares got hammered today as investors
worried about the company’s competition and growth prospects. The shares dropped
to an 18-month low. Its implied volatility is also quite high.
Anglogold
(
AU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
dropped more than 6% on heavy volume while the XAU
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped
3.73%. The shares appear to be breaking down from a month-low base.
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 30.02 | DOWN 2.31 |
NONE | 0.005 % Below |
Not At Extreme |
| VXN | 63.13 | DOWN 1.01 |
CVR 2, 6 BUY |
8.21 % 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 |
| NVIDIA | NVDA | – 14.89 |
20394 | 4210 |
| Constellation Brands |
STZ | + 14.87 |
1490 | 100 |
| Clear Channel Communications |
CCU | – 12.72 |
12293 | 2519 |
| Electronic Data Systems |
EDS | – 14.05 |
31250 | 4330 |
| Anglogold Limited |
AU | – 6.34 |
295 | 114 |
| Linear Technology |
LLTC | + 6.30 |
3250 | 889 |
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 |
| Comcast | CMCSA | 76.4 | 53.8 | 48.4 | 29.1 |
| Omnicom | OMC | 100.6 | 76.1 | 70.7 | 24.5 |
| Hispanic Broadcasting |
HSP | 64.9 | 49.5 | 52.7 | 39.1 |
| Electronic Data Systems |
EDS | 72.2 | 55.9 | 48.2 | 31.1 |
| Clear Channel Communications |
CCU | 78.2 | 61.6 | 53.8 | 35 |
| USA Networks |
USAI | 68.2 | 57.2 | 49.1 | 38.6 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Ameren Corp. |
AEE | 18.8 | 22.5 | 23.2 | 17.1 |
| Emmis Communications |
EMMS | 75.2 | 88 | 56.2 | 42.5 |
| Mckesson HBOC |
MCK | 31.7 | 36.6 | 35.4 | 24.7 |
| Dell Computer |
DELL | 49.6 | 57 | 52.1 | 38.3 |
| Conoco | COC | 22 | 25.2 | 37.1 | 20.7 |
| AK Steel |
AKS | 40.9 | 46.8 | 59.4 | 38.6 |
Please use stops on every trade!