Thursday’s Options Alerts
The S&P’s reshuffling and
Merrill’s upgrade of Cisco Systems
(
CSCO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) did little to spark any buying
interest as the markets sold off for the third consecutive day. The announcement
that Qwest Communications
(
Q |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was under criminal investigation from the U.S. attorney’s
office also added to the selling.
The selling accelerated today, at the close
the Dow
(
$INDU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) ended over 282 points lower or 3.10%, the S&P 500
(
$SPX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
dropped 32.36 points or 3.39%, while the Nasdaq
(
$COMPX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was the least
hit as it dropped 35 points or 2.54%. Both the Dow and S&P have given back
all of last Wednesday’s and Friday’s rally and then some. Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
drugs
(
$DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), utililites
(
$UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), and semiconductors took the
worst beatings today. The lone winning sector was gold
(
$XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) For more information on today’s action, please refer to
the market
recap.
Volatility shot up to an eleven-month high today as investors dumped stocks left and right. The VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapped up, opened
near its lows and closed near the highs of the day. This shift
in intraday sentiment again shows a huge increase in fear. Today’s action
triggered a
CVR 3 buy signal as the VIX is more than 20% above its 10-day moving average.
This is showing a real extreme in fear. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also gapped up, opened near
its lows and closed near the highs of the day. This shift in intraday sentiment
also shows a huge increase in fear. No CVR signals were triggered by the VXN. With
today’s big increase in fear and our oversold conditions, we could see a bounce
soon.
Points of Significance:
Zoran
(
ZRAN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped over 12% on
more than 10 times average volume.
The shares fell on concerns that its rival ESS Technology cut its prices. The
shares broke down from a pennant formation and could be a possible bear spread
play.
Invision Technologies
(
INVN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) dropped
10% on lower than average volume. The shares found support at its 50-day moving
average and its uptrend line.
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 39.02 | UP 5.10 |
CVR 3 BUY |
20.54% Above |
At Extreme |
| VXN | 62.12 | UP 2.83 |
NONE | 7.77 % Above |
Not At Extreme |
Abnormal Options Volume With Price Movement
—
Abnormal options volume (calls and puts) with stock price movement
Stocks With Biggest Spikes in Implied
Volatility — Stocks with biggest increases or decreases in implied
volatility compared to previous day
| Name | Symbol | Net % Change |
Volume | Avg. Volume |
| ICOS Corp. |
ICOS | – 13.92 |
2447 | 237 |
| Zoran | ZRAN | – 12.67 |
5042 | 263 |
| Viacom | VIA | – 11.54 |
1798 | 848 |
| Duke Energy |
DUK | – 10.52 |
3059 | 796 |
| Invision Technologies |
INVN | – 9.92 |
3059 | 796 |
| Celestica | CLS | – 9.49 |
7156 | 1035 |
Spike Up
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Pinnacle West Capital |
PNW | 36.2 | 25.6 | 25.5 | 14.2 |
| Inco Ltd. |
N | 38.5 | 30.1 | 33.7 | 26.2 |
| Cinergy | CIN | 35.5 | 28 | 27.6 | 16.5 |
| Novartis | NVS | 32.5 | 25.8 | 25.6 | 18.1 |
| Duke Energy |
DUK | 55.5 | 44.8 | 46.7 | 25.3 |
| Pfizer | PFE | 48.2 | 39.2 | 35.2 | 20.2 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| None | |||||
Please use stops on every trade!