Tuesday’s Options Alerts
Stocks put in another strong performance today after
Friday’s SMI numbers. Not even Oracle’s profit warning slowed things
down. Nearly all sectors were green with the exception of gold and retail
issues. Home improvement retailers Home Depot and Lows were both hit today after
a downgrade from UBS Warburg. The Dow powered its way to a seven month high
helped out by a 6.8% gain in General Motors. For more information on today’s action, please refer to
the market
recap.
The VIX
(
$VIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gapped up and
opened in the top third of its range and closed in the lower third of its range. This shift in intraday sentiment
today suggests that fear is dropping. Today’s action triggered a CVR VI sell
signal. The VXN
(
$VXN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) also gapped up and opened near its high and
closed near its lows This intraday shift in sentiment also suggests that fear is dropping. The VXN
triggered a CVR III and VI sell signals. As fast as we came up, we are getting
overbought, but overbought can become more overbought therefore we’ll have to
see what happens on turnaround Tuesday.
Points of Significance:
National Semiconductor
(
NSM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
jumped almost 10% on double its average volume. The stock broke out of a low
level base. There is heavy activity in the April 35 calls.
National Oilwell
(
NOI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) jumped over
8% on heavy volume. The shares are breaking out of a cup & handle pattern.
There is heavy activity in the March calls and puts. Implied volatility is low,
which could warrant option buying.
Shares of apparel maker Hot Topic
(
HOTT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
dropped 10% on over seven times its average volume. The shares are pulling back
sharply after last week’s run up. There is heavy activity in the April 25
calls.
| Volatility Index |
Close | Net Change |
Signals/Direction | % Above/Below 10 Day Moving Average |
Significance |
| VIX | 22.08 | DOWN 0.22 |
CVR VI SELL |
7.03 % Below |
Not at Extreme |
| VXN | 40.92 | DOWN 4.25 |
CVR III, VI SELL |
9.78% Below |
Near Extreme |
Abnormal Options Volume With Price Movement
—
Abnormal options volume (calls and puts) with stock price movement
| Name | Symbol | Net % Change |
Volume | Avg. Volume |
| Advent Software |
ADVS | + 11.71 |
1555 | 163 |
| Int’l Rectifier |
IRF | + 10.33 |
1889 | 639 |
| Silicon Labs |
SLAB | + 10.29 |
2625 | 353 |
| National Semiconductor |
NGM | + 9.62 |
4637 | 838 |
| Hot Topic |
HOTT | – 10.47 |
456 | 152 |
| National Oilwell |
NOI | + 8.57 |
3558 | 267 |
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 |
| Ameripath | PATH | 80.5 | 49.5 | 56.1 | 40.1 |
| FTI Consulting |
FCN | 75.9 | 51.9 | 76.7 | 47.2 |
| Infineon Technologies |
IFX | 58.4 | 46 | 89.4 | 49.5 |
| Costco | COST | 41.4 | 35 | 57.2 | 27.8 |
| PF Chang’s |
PFCB | 44.1 | 37.3 | 72.9 | 37.4 |
| Sara Lee |
SLE | 25.4 | 21.6 | 29 | 21.4 |
Spike Down
| Name | Symbol | IV | Previous IV |
High IV |
Low IV |
| Millipore | MIL | 33.6 | 90.8 | 45.3 | 30.2 |
| AVX Corp. |
AVX | 39.8 | 47 | 77.6 | 42.8 |
| Masco Corp. |
MAS | 26.1 | 30.7 | 47.3 | 28.5 |
| Perkin Elmer |
PKI | 65.7 | 77.2 | 69.1 | 42.4 |
| Penncorp Financial |
PFG | 25.8 | 30.2 | 32.4 | 29.8 |
| TRW inc. |
TRW | 26.4 | 30.7 | 49.1 | 27.7 |
Please use stops on every trade!