Weathering The Storm

These days the
stock market is like the weather here in Chicago; if you don’t like it,
don’t worry, it’ll change. Right now we’re all sitting here wishing the
weather would indeed change, as we’re looking at a white-out, shutting down
the airports and making traffic a mess. Oh well, I doubt a foot of snow and
minus-5 temperatures are any match for my 4X4, insulated boots and lots of
sweaters!

But
back to the markets. The selloff that was triggered by the 4:3 ruling by the
Florida Supreme Court (talk about an oxymoron!) really had the market spooked.
Turned out the joke was on the shorts, as the ensuing rally when the US
Supreme Court stopped the recount received a boost from those same shorts in
the way of a short-covering rally. 

We
covered hundreds of short puts in both QQQ and OEX this morning and like the
rest of the world, are waiting to hear the US Supreme Court ruling. Meantime,
we’ve got a pretty nice rally underway, but volatilities are holding.

**You’ll
note that the Nasdaq volatilities have fallen from the high 70% readings of
just a week ago, to the mid 60s. That’s a pretty clear sign of the returning
of confidence.  

Some
of the top option movers we’re watching today include: Metricom
(
MCOM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
increasing volume and dollar-weighted volume to the bullish side. Likewise,
bullish option action in Harmonic Lightwaves
(
HLIT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Storage Networks

(
STOR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) have us looking at bullish strategies in those securities. Bearish
readings in the following symbols: GelTex Pharmaceuticals
(
GELX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Shire
Pharmaceuticals Group
(
SHPGY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), Autoliv
(
ALV |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Edison
International
(
EIX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).