Your intraday options trading update.

Energy Select SPDR Could be in Turnaround

Generally quiet options trading so far today though some of the sector exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been active, says Chris Jacobson, options strategist with Susquehanna International Group.

The iShares Silver Trust (NYSE: SLV) and the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE: GLD) continue to draw activity. The SLV is off again, down 2.76 to 35.51 on 196 million shares, while GLD is down 3.36 to 144.37 on nearly 32 million shares.

Jacobson notes several institutional traders closing bearish positions in the Energy Select SPDR (NYSE: XLE). The XLE is down .65 to 75.40. The takeaway “is a near-term correction may be over,” he said.

A trader “closed out a position in the May 75 Puts (in XLE). That suggests they don’t see much down turn in the next couple of weeks,” said Jacobson.

High Options Volume by Strike

Citigroup (NYSE: C) finds activity in the C May11 4.5 Put, up .01 to .09 on nearly 106,000 contracts.

As usual, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE: SPY) holds a number of the busiest strikes. The SPYMayWk1 136 call trades about 86,000 contracts, down .06 to .12. More of the Weeklys expiring on Friday are getting trades including the SPY Wk1 134 Put and the SPY Wk1 133 Put. Each trade about 60,000 contracts.

The SLV MayWk1 35 Put is up .53 to .65 trading 43,355 contracts. Strike has become a nail biter, going from deep out-of-the-money to at-the-money in three trading days. And it expires tomorrow.

Major Stock Trading Volume Movers

Kendle Intl. (NASDAQ: KNDL) reportedly gets a bid of $15.25 per share or about $232 million from INC Research. KNDL is up 5.51 to 15.01 on 5.4 million shares. KNDL is a biopharma research house.

Novellus Systems (NASDAQ: NVLS) trades 30 millions shares, rising 2.83 to 35.75 on takeover rumors. Semiconductor firm plans $525 million note offering and will use some for share buybacks.

Timberland (NYSE: TBL) gets the boot, dropping 30% to 29.08 on 3.7 million shares. TBL reported first quarter revenues of $349 million and earnings per share of .35, down from .47 last year.

Find more option analysis and trading ideas at Options Trading Strategies.

 

Stocks/Underlying – Big Daily Change in Option Volume

Repeat of yesterday with Ralcorp Holdings (NYSE: RAH) trades about 7,000 options as it rejects $4.9 billion takeover bid by ConAgra (NYSE: CAG). ConAgra originally bid $82 a share, raised it to $86, and remains “very enthusiastic” about deal, according to reports. RAH is up 2.69 to 90.08.

Varian Semiconductor (NASDAQ: VSEA) trades 28,600 options, as it presumably accepted $4.9 billion bid from Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT).  VSEA is down .16 to 61.21.

NovaGold Resources (AMEX: NG) trades 90,119 options, as stock drops 5.13% to 11.28. George Soros reportedly had large stakes in NovaGold though word has been his funds have been selling the metals.

Stocks/Underlying – High Option Volume

SPY has option volume of nearly 1.8 million as it trades down .42 to 134.41. The Standard & Poor’s Index Options (CBOE: SPX) is down 4.62 to 1342.70 on 350,000 options contracts traded.

The SLV trades 1.3 million plus options, and is down 3.26 to 35.01. The GLD trust trades more than 145,000 options contracts.

The CBOE Volatility Index (CBOE: VIX) is up .02 to 17.10 with 323,000 options trading on the index.

PowerShares QQQ Trust (NASDAQ: QQQ) is up .08 to 58.68 on 358,341 options.

Las Vegas Sands (NYSE: LVS) is busiest equity. It trades nearly 190,000 options as stock rises .36 to 42.89.

Burney Simpson is the managing editor of InvestorPlace options pages.