U.S. stock futures are mixed this morning, as Wall Street watches oil prices plunge and waits on key April jobs data. In overnight trading, crude futures plunge nearly 5% to tag a nearly five-month low on global oversupply concerns. Meanwhile, April nonfarm payrolls are expected to show the addition of 190,000 jobs last month, with the unemployment rate seen coming in at 4.5%.

Against this backdrop, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 0.04%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures up 0.16%.

On the options front, volume was brisk on Thursday, with about 16.1 million calls and 15.7 million puts changing hands. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio soared to a one-month high of 0.77, prompting the 10-day moving average to tick higher to 0.66.

Driving Thursday’s options activity, Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) saw mixed options activity after CEO Brian Moynihan called President Donald Trump’s plans to break up big banks “crazy.” Elsewhere, Anheuser Busch Inbev NV (ADR) (NYSE:BUD) call volume spiked to unusual levels after a jump in quarterly revenue and the acquisition of another independent brewery. Finally, Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK) took a heavy hit from plunging energy prices, but options traders remained optimistic.

Bank of America Corp (BAC)

The banking sector has come under scrutiny this week, after President Trump said he was looking at potential plans to instate a revamped version of the 1930s Glass-Steagall Act, which would breakup so called “universal” banks, or those with both investment and commercial banking operations. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan spoke out (video) on the topic yesterday, calling any such plan to break up big banks “crazy” and pledged that BofA wouldn’t go back to pre-crisis practices.

Despite the president’s talk, optimism continues to build on BAC stock. But options traders showed a modicum of caution yesterday, as calls only captured 47% of the more than 508,000 contracts traded on BAC shares. That said, there was on rather interesting block of call contracts that traded around noon for BofA.

According to data from Trade-Alert.com, a block of 32,000 5 May $23.50 calls crossed the tape for the ask price of 5 cents, or $5 per contract. The trade occurred just as BAC breached $23.50 yesterday around noon, so it’s difficult to tell if it was the closure of an existing short call position, or the initiation of a fresh long position. If it was the latter, the trade is already in the money, and any gains heading into the close today are icing on the cake.

Anheuser Busch Inbev NV (ADR) (BUD)

Shares in the self-proclaimed “king of beers” jumped more than 5% on Thursday, after Anheuser Busch Inbev added another vassal to its court and reported better than expected revenue growth. For the first quarter, AB Inbev said revenue rose 35% year-over-year to $12.92 billion a year after acquiring SABMiller. Additionally, the company created quite a stir in the craft beer community after buying out Asheville, NC-based craft brewer Wicked Weed.

BUD options traders were high on both the revenue spike and Wicked Weed’s buyout, as call volume surged to a record near-term high, snapping up 94% of the more than 265,000 contracts traded on BUD stock yesterday. At least four large block trades totaling more than 22,000 contracts traded on BUD yesterday, with all four crossing at the ask price, according to Trade-Alert.com. The largest was a block of 32,000 contracts, which traded at the January 2019 $140 strike for the ask price of $2.55, or $255 per contract. Breakeven for this trade lies nearly 20% above BUD’s Thursday close — making it quite a bullish bet.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (CHK)

Plunging crude prices smacked many energy sector stocks lower on Thursday, and Chesapeake Energy helped lead the way lower. CHK stock plummeted nearly 7.5% on the drawdown in crude prices, with traders spurred onward by news that Chesapeake’s average daily production had fallen to 528,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), below expectations for 536,000 BOE — which overshadowed a better-than-expected first-quarter earnings report.

CHK stock options traders appeared to remain optimistic about a rebound, however, as calls made up 74% of the more than 239,000 contracts traded yesterday.

Optimism was already at a premium for CHK, as the May put/call open interest ratio had fallen to a low of 0.47, with calls more than doubling puts among near-term options. CHK is now trading well below any meaningful call OI in the May series, and is hovering just above peak put OI of more than 20,000 contracts at the May $5 put.

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