Neither Greenspan, Nor Today’s Earnings Reports Are Helping The BullsÂ
The bears are feasting on the bones of
a number of tech high-flyers after a series of disturbing earnings reports and
conference calls gave the bulls the boot and put them back into the driver’s
seat after a one-day hiatus. Our formerly beloved Fed Chairman, Alan
Greenspan, didn’t help matters much, except for the bears, when he noted
that the Fed’s cutting days might be behind them. Quoting Chairman Greenspan
from that Humphrey Hawkins testimony before Congress, “Should conditions
warrant, we may need to ease further, but we must not lose sight of the
prerequisite of longer-run price stability for realizing the economy’s full
growth potential over time.â€
On our scan list we saw modestly bullish action in a perennial takeover
candidate, Vodafone Group PLC
(
VOD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
We show a 3500 lot being rolled from a short July 15 calls strike to an
October 15 call strike. Prices were $5.60 for the July and $6.10 for the
Octobers. That’s only $.50 for a full quarter’s worth of capping upside potential. UBS Warburg reduced ratings for a whole series of foreign
telecoms including VOD yesterday, but given the stock is down 42% for 2001, it
may be finding its way onto some M&A radar screens.
As far as the Intel
(
INTC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) July — August 27 1/2 calendar spread we spoke of yesterday, the
July 27 1/2 calls are down to $1.50 and our long August 28 7 1/2 calls are
trading for $2.50. In other words, the calendar spread has widened out to $1
from our entry yesterday afternoon of $.80. The point of highest profitability
would be if INTC went out at $27 1/2 on expiration this Friday. Our computers
show that if that should occur, the calendar spread would widen to about
$1.35. If the bears remain in control and the volatilities continue to move
higher, those August 27 1/2 calls could expand considerably, adding profit at
an incremental rate to this trade.
|
|
Call
|
Put
|
$W
|
$W
|
|
Symbol
|
Volume
|
Volume
|
Call
|
Put
|
|
MSFT
|
19,777
|
17,254
|
224,362
|
112,459
|
|
INTC
|
76,130
|
32,564
|
159,076
|
39,582
|
|
VOD
|
8,430
|
6,000
|
43,649
|
7,206
|
(1010WallStreet.com has licensed
the use of Hamzei Analytics proprietary options analytics)
UGLY Put
Action in APC, SEBL and VRTS Options!
|
|
Call
|
Put
|
$W
|
$W
|
|
Symbol
|
Volume
|
Volume
|
Call
|
Put
|
|
APC
|
388
|
22,789
|
885
|
181,188
|
|
SEBL
|
21,157
|
18,094
|
36,567
|
112,854
|
|
VRTS
|
10,774
|
9,364
|
24,796
|
104,009
|
(1010WallStreet.com has licensed
the use of Hamzei Analytics proprietary options analytics)