Thursday’s Options Alerts
After yesterday’s
huge rally, stocks pulled
back after President Bush’s comments that war with Iraq may be “unavoidable.”
The day started off on a negative note as the positive announcement from Dell
Computer
(
DELL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was muted by warnings from Dow Chemical
(
DOW |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Charter
Communications
(
CHTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Credit Suisse
(
CSR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and Comerica
(
CMA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating). A
rally did develop but gave way after President Bush’s speech.
At the
close, the Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 183.18 points or 2.30%, giving roughly half
of Monday’s 364 point gain. The S&P
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 19.99 points or
2.35%. And the Nasdaq
(
$COMPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped 26.27 points or 2.16%. Worst-performing sectors today were chemicals
(
$CEX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 6.10%, paper
(
$FPP.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 4.77%, banks
(
$BIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) down 4.18, and airlines
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
down 4.08%.
Very few sectors were in the green today. They were health care
(
$HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
up 1.10% pharmaceuticals
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) up 0.10%, and semiconductors
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
up 0.02%. Semis were up over 5%, benefiting from Dell’s news, but the index ran
into resistance at its 20-day moving average. After the close, Advanced Micro
Devices warned that its third quarter sales will fall $100 million short, this
will put pressure on semis and techs tomorrow. No economic news was on tap
today, but tomorrow we have initial jobless claims, September factory orders,
and the September ISM Services index.
The VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened near its lows and closed
near the highs of the day. This shift in intraday sentiment now shows a rise in fear.
No more CVRs were triggered today. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) opened near its
midpoint and closed slightly above its open. This shift in intraday sentiment
also shows a rise in fear. The vixen didn’t trigger any signals. Volatility
jumped once again as more earnings warnings and talks of war are in the air.
Points of Significance:
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 43.36 | UP 3.23 | NONE | 0.003% Below | Not At Extreme |
| VXN | 58.15 | UP 0.91 | NONE |
1.30% 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 |
| Action Performance |
ATN |
– 21.14 | 1442 | 163 |
| Baxter International |
BAX |
– 10.93 | 7759 | 1336 |
| Interpublic Group | IPG |
– 9.08 | 3060 | 322 |
| Synopsys | SNPS |
– 8.61 | 4069 | 1272 |
| Sony | SNE |
– 4.32 | 2248 | 610 |
| Linear Technology |
LLTC |
2.06 | 8811 | 2354 |
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 |
|
Synovus Financial
|
SNV |
53 | 37.5 | 42.4 | 21.6 |
| Schering Plough | SGP |
73.2 | 57 | 62.4 | 33.7 |
| Action Performance | ATN |
90.3 | 72.9 | 79.6 | 52.5 |
| Sonic | SONC |
55.1 | 45.2 | 46.1 | 28.6 |
| Factset Research | FDS |
55.9 | 47.1 | 60.3 | 38 |
| Golden State Bancorp | GSB |
22.8 | 19.3 | 35.1 | 10.3 |
Spike Down
None Today
Please use stops on every trade!