U.S. stock futures are in rally mode this morning as Wall Street prepares for a string of financial heavyweights to speak later today at the Federal Reserve’s symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen will give the keynote speech, and traders will be looking for any hints on U.S. monetary policy. Before Yellen takes the stage, however, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will speak. All will be listening to see how Draghi will deal with quantitative easing in the eurozone.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures have added 0.17% this morning, Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.28% and S&P 500 futures have gained 0.22%.

Options volume remained weak on Thursday, with about 11.9 million calls and 11.4 million puts crossing the tape. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio rose to 0.68, while the 10-day moving average extended its decline to hit a two-week low of 0.68.

Turning to Thursday’s options activity, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) saw a boost in call activity after announcing it will slash prices on many products at Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ:WFM) come Monday. Elsewhere, American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) was flooded with call options despite a sharp decline in airlines amid a competitor’s encroachment. Finally, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) received a bullish bump after Jefferies panned Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).

American Airlines Group (AAL)

There is new competition for airlines in the Midwest U.S. WOW Air, an Iceland-based low-fare airline, is moving into the region, putting a crimp on already tight margins in the area.

“Our unique opportunity is to use Iceland as a hub. We can then distribute to our main destinations in Europe, be it London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Berlin, Copenhagen, etc.,” said CEO Skuli Mogensen.

American Airlines wasn’t the most affected stock on the day, but AAL shares did see the biggest spike in options volume. Total activity came in at 89,000 contracts — more than tripling the stock’s daily average.

Furthermore, calls made up 89% of the overall take. Optimism isn’t a new thing for American Airlines, as it’s September put/call OI ratio currently rests at 0.41, with calls more than doubling puts among front-month options. However, this ratio could dive even further if this attention to calls gains traction, which could mark a shift for AAL stock, which has declined sharply since mid-June.

Facebook Inc (FB)

FB stock received an indirectly bullish note yesterday, when Jefferies downgraded social media competitor Twitter. According to Jefferies, “TWTR’s global platform has broad user engagement, but monetization is slipping … In social we see a clear winner in Facebook.”

Still, the “clear winner’s” shares slipped half a percent on Thursday, as FB continues to struggle with overhead resistance in the $170 region.

Options traders took heart in the comment, as calls snapped up 63% of the more than 166,000 contracts traded on FB yesterday. That said, volume arrived about half of FB’s daily average, so participation in the bullish activity was limited.

Furthermore, more calls added to the front-month September series could send sentiment to near-term highs, as the put/call OI ratio currently rests at 0.50, indicating that calls already double puts for the month.

Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN)

Amazon announced yesterday that it is slashing prices on a slew of popular products at Whole Foods come Monday, escalating fears of a war for market share in the grocery sector. In fact, grocers declined across the board, sending the S&P 500 Food Retail index down nearly 5% and wiping roughly $10 billion in market value from the U.S.’s top food retailers. Kroger Co (NYSE:KR) was the biggest loser, dropping more than 8% on the news.

Options traders ate it up. Volume jumped to well above AMZN’s daily average, with more than 189,000 contracts crossing the tape. Action was a bit tepid, even for Amazon, as calls cobbled together about 55% of the day’s take. But call activity has picked up the pace this week, with Amazon’s September put/call open interest ratio falling from 1.16 on Tuesday to today’s perch at 1.10.

That said, with AMZN stock struggling to overcome short-term weakness, this added bullish sentiment is not necessarily a positive development.

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