Your daily options trading wrap up.

Sentiment

Stocks are broadly lower late-Thursday. Economic data was in focus early after the Labor Department reported the jobless claims increased by 26,000 last week, which was about 15,000 more than expected. A separate report showed the nation’s trade balance increasing to $46.3 billion in January, which was wider than the $40.3 billion at the end of 2010 and also worse than the $41.5 billion that economists had expected. Meanwhile, European equity benchmarks finished lower on renewed concerns about the European Debt Crisis after Moody’s cut Spain’s credit rating. Reports that the Saudi’s had fired on protestors also weighed on sentiment in midday trade. April WTI Crude is down $1.70 to $102.68, but well off session lows of $100.62. Gold is also taking a hit on dollar strength as well. The precious metal is off $16.2 to $1,413.40. Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Exxon (NYSE: XOM) are among the biggest losers in the Dow and the industrial average is off 218 points. The NASDAQ has lost almost 50 points. The CBOE Volatility Index (CBOE: VIX) gained 1.44 to 21.66. Trading in the options market is active, with 11.1 million calls and 9.4 million puts traded.

Bullish Flow

Intrepid Potash (NYSE: IPI) loses 87 cents to $34.70 and the top options trade in the fertilizer maker today is a 2327-contract block of IPI Jun 40 Calls at $1.25 on International Stock Exchange, which is an opening buyer, according to ISEE data. 6,247 now traded. Another 2,340 IPI Mar 35 Calls changed hands. Implied volatility is up 15% to 53. Shares hit a low of $33.22 this morning after USDA Ag data were released. It is now 4.5% off session lows and some players in the options market seem to view today’s decline in IPI as an opportunity for bullish trades.

Sprint (NYSE: S) adds another 18 cents to $4.88 and has now gained nearly 9% since talk of a T-Mobile partnership surfaced two days ago. Shares are again seeing relative strength today and options volume is impressive. 85,000 calls and 8,650 puts traded. The top trade is a 12,000-contract block of S May 6 Calls at 8 cents, which looks like an opening buyer. 23,670 traded. Mar, Apr and May 5 calls are the next most actives. Implied volatility is up 12% to 46.

Bearish Flow

The top options trade so far today is a 100,000-contract block of SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) Mar 128 Puts at 96 cents. SPYders are trading down $1.87 to $130.52 on a rough day for the U.S. equity market and the block of SPY Mar 128 Puts was part of a SPY Mar 126 – 128 – 130 Put Butterfly Spread. In this trade, the strategist bought 50,000 of both the 126s and 130s, sold the 128 puts, and paid 27 cents on the spread. They might be opening a new position and looking for the weakness to continue through the expiration; and for SPY to fall towards $128 by next Friday. Separately, a SPY Mar 117 – 122 – 127 SPY Put Fly was bought at 53 cents, 33,000 times.

Implied Volatility Mover

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (NASDAQ: GMCR) shares are up $13.45 to $57.09 after the company and Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) announced a strategic marketing, manufacturing, distribution and sales relationship. 43,000 calls and 36,000 puts traded in GMCR. The top trade is GMCR April 30 – 37 Put Spread, apparently bought at 6 cents, 3200 times. It might be a closing trade, as both contracts are now deep out-of-the-money and open interest is sufficient to cover. The next biggest trade is a seller of 2600 GMCR April 50 Calls at $8.50. It was tied to shares at $57.25 and might also be closing. March 45, March 50, and March 60 calls are among today’s most actives as well, and implied volatility is down about 4% to 56.

Options Flow

Bullish flow detected in Leap Wireless International (NASDAQ: LEAP), with 5928 calls trading, or eight times its recent average daily call volume.

Bullish flow detected in Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM), with 5776 calls trading, or five times its recent average daily call volume.

Bullish flow detected in Sherwin Williams (NYSE: SHW), with 6031 calls trading, or 17 times its recent average daily call volume.

Increasing volume is also being seen in Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Cemex (NYSE: CX).

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.