Thursday’s Options Alerts

• August 7, 2002
• TradingMarkets Editors

Down
was the trend of the major indexes for most of the volatile session,
until a late-day rally brought prices roaring back to the highs of the day. The
biggest gains were in pharmaceuticals, healthcare, chemicals, and computer
technology, while Internet and oil service saw the biggest losses.

Below average volume had the
Dow and S&P 500 closing above their 20-day moving averages, while the Nasdaq was
just below this mark. Not since May have the indexes as a group been able to
close above this level for more than three days. The trend is still obviously
down, though strength in this area will be one of the first steps for an
indication of a change in direction.

The Dow Jones Industrial
Average ($INDU.X)
closed up 2.20% at 8456.15. The S&P 500 ($SPX.X)
closed up 2.00% at 876.77 at. The Nasdaq ($COMPQ)
closed up 1.69% at 1280.91.

U.S. Treasury Bonds were
up ’22 at 107 ’17.

In economic news, export prices came in at 0.2%,
import prices were at 0.0%, wholesale inventories were recorded at
0.3% , and



consumer credit was at $8.5 billion, vs. a forecast of
$8 billion.

Market breadth was positive,
with NYSE advancing issues over declining issues by a ratio of 1.77, and up
volume over down volume by a 1.96 ratio. Nasdaq advancing issues over declining
issues came in at 1.12, and up volume beat down volume by a 2.07 ratio.  The

VIX was down 2.66 at 43.07. The

TRIN was up 0.26 at 0.89.

Semiconductor Index ($SOX.X),
up 2.02% at 307.65, closed in the middle of its daily range. The
Broker/Dealer Index ($XBD.X),
up 1.23% at 358.42, closed near the middle of its daily range. .

The top sectors of the day were the
Pharmaceutical Index ($DRG.X),
up3.72% at 293.02, and the S&P Healthcare Index ($HCX.X),
up 3.58% at 305.66. 

Losing
sectors of the day were the Dow Jones Internet Commerce Index ($ECM.X),
down 2.74% at 30.16, and the Oil Service Sector Index ($OSX.X),
down 1.45% at 71.68.

There were no VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) or VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
signals triggered on Wednesday.

Volatility Index	Close	Net Change	Signals/Direction	% Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average	Significance
( $VIX.X | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	43.07	DOWN 2.66	NONE	3.09% Above	Not at Extreme
VXN	68.84	UP 4.66	NONE	8.00% 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
Cross Country	( CCRN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	-45.24	801	220
TMP Worldwide	( TMPW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	-32.31	822	157
AmeriCredit	( ACF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	-25.23	10396	3547
Interpublic Group	( IPG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	+20.52	5704	925
CMS Energy	( CMS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	+13.87	1603	783
Mercury Computer	( MRCY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	+10.95	646	139

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
Aon Corp.	( AOC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	68.5	50.8	52.2	21.6
InterMune	( ITMN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	122.8	93.5	93.7	63.3
Gtech Holdings	( GTK | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	68.6	54.9	55.5	29.6
Hershey Foods	( HSY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	42.4	35.5	34.0	16.1
New Plan Excel Realty	( NXL | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	32.5	28.7	29.5	16.9

Spike Down

Name	Symbol	IV	Previous IV	High IV	Low IV
NCO Group	( NCOG | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	59.2	88.2	81.6	41.9
HealthSouth	( HRC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	61.3	77.3	95.1	31.0
MeriStar Hospitality	( MHX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	39.0	47.6	41.2	19.5
Cisco Systems	( CSCO | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	63.3	77.2	74.6	49.4
Cross Country	( CCRN | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating)	72.9	88.2	73.1	40.6

Please use stops on every trade!