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Bullish flow detected in Plains Exploration and Production (NYSE: PXP), with 9584 calls trading, or two-times its recent average daily call volume.

Bullish flow detected in SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWRA), with 21,886 calls trading, or five times its recent average daily call volume.

Bearish activity detected in PPL Corp. (NYSE: PPL), with 5593 puts trading, or five times its recent average daily put volume.

Increasing volume is also being seen in Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Target (NYSE: TGT), and Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS).

Sentiment

With 30 minutes of trading to go, stocks are trading mixed in uninspired fashion late Wednesday. Economic data was in focus early after ADP reported that the US economy added 187,000 private sector jobs in January, which was about 40,000 more than expected. However, after a 148-point rally and move beyond 12,000 yesterday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average struggled at the open following a round of mixed earnings news. While Electronic Arts and Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) are up on better-than-expected results, Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM) and Genworth Financial (NYSE: GNW) are suffering post-earnings losses. Weakness in bonds and the 10-year yield approaching 3.5% might be weighing on sentiment as well. Monthly same store sales are due tomorrow and key payroll data is slated for Friday. So, event risk looms. In addition, traders are also watching events in Egypt, where civil unrest appears to be escalating and spreading to other Arab nations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is flat and the tech-heavy NASDAQ has lost 2.2. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is down .27 to 17.36 on a day of quiet trading in the index pits due to the massive storm pummeling Chicago. Overall volume is light. With 30 minutes left to trade, 8.4 million calls and 5.4 million puts traded so far.

Bullish Flow

JA Solar (NASDAQ: JASO) rallies at the open and is trading up 39 cents, near session highs, at $7.32. Meanwhile, JASO calls are shining, with 10,000 traded. The volume is eight times the normal and compares to put volume of 245 contracts. The top trade is a block of 2000 JASO Jun 9 Calls at 40 cents on the Chicago Board Options Exchange when the market was 35 to 40 cents. A block of 1,669 JASO Mar 7 Calls traded at 70 cents when the market was 65 to 70 cents. March 8 calls are the most active and have traded mostly in smaller lots on the bid. The biggest trade is 149 contracts at 25 cents. Implied volatility (IV) is up 5% to 64.5, with earnings expected around Feb. 10 (unconfirmed).

Big prints in General Electric (NYSE: GE) early Wednesday. Shares notched a new 52-week high of $20.96, but are now down a dime to $20.70. In options action, one strategist paid a penny for the GE Mar 20 – Jan 22.5 Call spread, 20,000 times and is possibly closing, or setting up a diagonal spread or, most likely, rolling a bullish position from in-the-money March 20 calls to GE January 2012 22.5 Calls, currently out-of-the-money.

The top options trades so far today are in Citi (NYSE: C), which is trading down 3 pennies to $4.88, after one strategist paid 9 cents for the C Jun 5.5 – 6 Call spread, 125,000 times on the CBOE.

Bearish Flow

Costco (NASDAQ: COST) loses 44 cents to $71.99 and options volume is six times its average daily, led by a block of 19,500 COST Mar 70 Puts at $1.13 on the International Stock Exchange, which is an opening customer buyer, according to ISE data. 23,045 traded. Another 2286 COST Mar 72.5 Puts changed hands, which also looks opening. IV is flat at 18.5. COST last reported earnings on Dec. 8. Shares are up 4% since that time. Monthly same store sales numbers due tomorrow morning.

Implied Volatility Mover

Salix Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SLXP) loses 91 cents to $40.50 and an investor buys a block of 10,000 SLXP March 37 Puts at $2.80. It was tied to 280,000 shares at $41.55. Separately a SLXP Mar 35 – 40 Put spread is bought at $2.05, 1350 times. The spread has now traded 2500 times and, like the March 37 put purchase, might be a short-term hedge ahead of a March 7 Prescription Drug User Fee Act date for Xifaxan (label expansion). The same spread traded at $1.55 last week as well. IV is up 30% to 77.

Frederic Ruffy is the Senior Options Strategist at Whatstrading.com, a site dedicated to helping traders make sense of the complex and fragmented nature of listed options trading.