Thursday’s Options Alerts
Not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse. The suits (Wall
Streeters) were nowhere to be found, so the market took its cue from Santa and
donned the “red threads” in today’s trade. All the averages were down,
mainly on continued weakness out of the retail sector
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and a
noticeably weak Durable Goods report. Volume was very light as expected on a
holiday-abbreviated session, producing barely a crumb for the little guy (mouse)
that did decide to enter the house of the NYSE on Christmas Eve.
The
(
$VIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and the
(
$VXN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) finished mixed, with no CVR signals being
triggered in today’s trade. The curiosity here is the divergence in the two
indices. The VXN established a new multiweek low which might be expected before
what will be a prolonged for many in the investment community as the implied
volatilities are “artificially” crushed to reflect a smaller trading
period vs. number of actual days. The VIX meanwhile was up roughly 7%, showing
that the spirit of giving (selling volatility
and thereby distributing) before this Christmas holiday was not to be found in
this particular product.
Have a very merry holiday.
Points of Significance:
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 30.05 | Up +2.31 |
None |
3.6% Below |
Not at Extreme |
| VXN | 45.13 | Down -1.65 | None | 7.9% Below | Not at Extreme |
Abnormal Options Volume — This list
includes both percentage movers that are normally associated with an increase in
options activity, as well as stocks that have unusually high activity and / or
technical situations,
reflecting increased speculation of a potential price move.
| Name | Symbol | Net % Change |
Volume | Avg. Volume |
| First Data |
FDC |
+2% |
1392 | 514 |
| Bank One | ONE |
0% | 4386 | 1935 |
| Oil Service HOLDR’s |
OIH |
-1% | 3939 | 474 |
Stocks With Spikes in Implied
Volatility — Stocks with Increases and Decreases in implied
volatility compared to previous day. Candidates are then screened qualitatively.
These lists represent those issues that carry a blend of liquidity and/or
technical setups that might deserve further notice.
Spike Up
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Columbia Sportswear |
COLM |
47.2 | 43.6 | 62.7 | 43.8 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Affiliated Computer Service |
ACS |
40.5 | 44.9 | 70.2 | 31.3 |
Please use stops on every trade!