Thursday’s Vital Data: Bank of America Corp (BAC), AT&T Inc. (T) and Ford Motor Company (F)

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A weak earnings report from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) drove stocks sharply lower Wednesday, but Wall Street recovered most of its losses by the close. On the day, the S&P 500 shed 0.24%, while the Nasdaq gave back 0.7%.

Options volume swelled Wednesday, with AAPL stock the key target. Overall, the single-session CBOE equity put/call volume ratio fell to 0.61, while the 10-day moving average tagged a two-month low of 0.63.

Outside of the two million AAPL contracts that traded on Wednesday, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) was popular among options traders after receiving bullish analyst commentary and announcing a change at CFO. Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) also was the target of bullish brokerage musings, while AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) leaped onto the most actives list after the FCC signaled that it would approved the company’s merger with DirecTV (NASDAQ:DTV)

Thursday’s Vital Data: Bank of America Corp (BAC), AT&T Inc. (T) and Ford Motor Company (F)

Bank of America Corp (BAC)

BAC stock was among the few stocks that found positive purchase on Wednesday. In fact, shares jumped more than 2%, putting some distance between BAC stock and short-term support at $18. Driving the gains were bullish comments from CompleteBankData.com Founder Nate Tobik, who said that BAC is still attractive at $18. Additionally, BofA announced that CFO Bruce Thompson has decided to step down after more than five years.

Options volume has held above average for BAC since the company released its quarterly earnings report, with some 534,000 contracts changing hands yesterday. Calls were the preferred option on Wednesday, with these typically bullish bets taking up 79% of the day’s volume.

Looking ahead to the weekly July 31 series of options, BAC traders have shifted their focus to the $18.50 strike, where 23,233 call contracts are currently open. Also of note are the more than 11,000 calls at the $17 and $19 strikes. Peak put open interest, meanwhile, totals just 6,192 contracts at the $18 strike for the series.

Ford Motor Company (F)

Ford shares slipped 0.65% on Wednesday, with the stock continuing to feel pressure from its declining 10-day moving average. With the shares trading near oversold territory, brokerage firm Vetr upgraded F stock to “strong buy” from “buy” on Wednesday. Vetr currently sports a 12-month price target of $16.25 for Ford.

F stock has lingered near the bottom of the most active options list for the past week, with traders potentially gearing up for the company’s July 28 trip to the earnings confessional. Yesterday, more than 202,000 contracts traded on F stock, with calls attracting a middling 53% of the day’s take.

A closer look at weekly July 31 series options (which expire the week of Ford’s quarterly earnings report) reveals that puts dominate the landscape. Peak open interest for the series currently totals 17,157 contracts at the out-of-the-money $14 strike, while another 8,485 contracts are open at the in-the-money $14.50 put strike. On the call side, peak OI numbers 6,138 contracts at the overhead $15 strike.

AT&T Inc. (T)

Wall Street may be in for a mega-merger this year, as the FCC signaled that it likely would approve AT&T’s $48.5 billion DirecTV acquisition. Specifically, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler recommended that a five-member FCC panel vote in favor of the deal. Wheeler also noted that the Department of Justice wouldn’t pose a substantial threat to the merger.

Despite the news, T stock fell nearly 1% on Wednesday. That said, options traders were call happy on T on Wednesday. Of the 252,123 contracts traded on T stock, a hefty 84% of those were of the call variety. As a result, T’s total put/call open interest ratio has fallen from recent highs and now rests at a reading of 1.14, with puts still edging out calls.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/07/thursdays-vital-data-bank-america-corp-bac-att-inc-t-ford-motor-company-f-options/.

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