U.S. stock futures were down early but mostly rallied into the open, as traders fret over falling oil prices and the potential impact on inflation. Crude oil is down at $43.70 per barrel this morning, and some analysts are calling for $30 oil, which could drag inflationary pressures sharply lower — a real problem for the Federal Reserve and its current pro-interest-rate hike policies.

Against this backdrop, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are up 0.02%, S&P 500 futures have fallen 0.01% and Nasdaq-100 futures have gained 0.18%.

On the options front, puts gained traction as calls dropped out of favor amid yesterday’s selling. Overall, about 14.5 million calls and 14.1 million puts changed hands on the day. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio rebounded sharply to 0.72, driving the 10-day moving average to a fresh two-month high of 0.66.

Turning to Tuesday’s options activity, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) received a considerable boost in call options after both Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Baidu Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:BIDU) said they’d begin using AMD’s Epyc server CPUs. Meanwhile, Pacific Crest waxed bullish on AMD and upgraded Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) due to the cryptocurrency boom in GPU sales. Finally, Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) saw a surge in call options after a bullish note from JPMorgan.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)

Fresh off news that Intel Corporation’s (NASDAQ:INTC) new top-of-the-line i9 CPUs wouldn’t arrive until October, Advanced Micro Devices was boosted yet again when both Microsoft and Baidu said they would begin using AMD’s Epyc server CPUs in their new data centers. Baidu’s senior director of technology systems, Liu Chao, went as far as to note that: “With AMD and their new Epyc processor, we are confident that innovation in the server market will accelerate.”

AMD bulls responded by sending the stock nearly 6% higher in response, despite the overall selling mood on Wall Street. AMD options traders were also on the ball, sending more than 672,000 contracts across the tape, with calls gobbling up 75% of the day’s take.

That said, some of yesterday’s call activity may have been driven by profit taking, as the July put/call open interest ratio ticked higher from 0.45 yesterday to 0.47 today. Peak call OI for the series numbers more than 64,000 contracts at the overhead $14 strike, where short-term traders are looking for AMD’s current rally to stall.

Nvidia Corporation (NVDA)

Cryptocurrency has become a major topic for both AMD and NVDA in recent weeks, and Pacific Crest doubled down on the movement yesterday. Admitting it was wrong back in April, Pacific Crest reversed the months-old downgrade and lifted NVDA to “sector weight” from “underweight” sighting sustained demand for Nvidia GPUs for cryptocurrency mining in China and Eastern Europe.

The upgrade wasn’t enough to keep NVDA stock out of the red, but it was enough to drive NVDA options traders back into calls. Volume topped 373,000 contracts on Tuesday, with calls making up 61% of the day’s take.

The heavy call volume is a bit of a shift for NVDA options traders, as puts have grown popular as the shares head back toward highs in the $160 region. In fact, the July put/call OI ratio has risen from its June 12 perch at 0.60 to its current reading at 0.88, as puts have been added at a faster pace than calls in the past week.

Micron Technology, Inc. (MU)

Enjoying strong pricing pressure and demand for DRAM and NAND flash memory chips, Micron Technology has seen its shares soar in the past year. However, some analysts have raised concerns recently about increased competition from low-cost Chinese manufacturers, prompting a halt in MU stock’s rally.

JPMorgan was having none of it yesterday, however, stating that those concerns were “overblown.” According to the brokerage firm, “We believe the technologies that are being proposed in China are likely to remain at least one or two generations behind industry leaders, likely through the rest of the decade (or longer).”

MU options traders clearly took the bullish note to heart, as calls made up an impressive 82% of yesterday’s volume, which came in at a none-too-shabby 226,000 contracts. What’s more, all this attention to MU call options has driven the July put/call OI ratio sharply lower to a perch at 0.40, with these typically bullish options more than doubling puts among near-term options.

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