Friday’s Vital Data: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Twitter Inc (TWTR) and Iamgold Corp (USA) (IAG)

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Barring a solid end to the week for stocks on Wall Street, the major market indices are currently on course for their second consecutive weekly loss.  With stocks remaining weak heading into the weekend, options traders have pushed the 10-day moving average of the CBOE’s put/call volume ratio higher to 0.61 – a one month high.

Among the top 10 most active stocks in the options pits were Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) and Iamgold Corp (USA) (NYSE:IAG). Let’s take a look at what’s going on with these two tech giants and hyperactivity in trading in this gold miner.

Friday’s Vital Data: Apple Inc. (AAPL), Twitter Inc (TWTR) and Iamgold Corp (USA) (IAG)

Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Apple stock once again pulled back from overhead resistance at $130 on Thursday. Shedding 1.66%, AAPL stock even breached support at its 20-day moving average. The decline comes despite rumors that Apple may be working on a deal as a launch partner for HBO’s new HBO Now streaming service.

Volume for AAPL options surged back toward its daily average following  several weak sessions. Overall, some 1.28 million contracts traded on AAPL, with 68% of that volume crossing on the call side. Not surprisingly, most of AAPL’s options activity was focused in the weekly March 6 series, as traders took profits or closed out/rolled out positions that were slated to expire at the end of today’s trading.

Twitter Inc (TWTR)

Shark Tank tech investing celebrity Mark Cuban is on the warpath, declaring that the technology sector is seeing a worse bubble than in 2000, and that stocks like Twitter are some of the most inflated.  TWTR stock, for its part, is down some 13% during the past year, with the stock struggling to find much headway.

Options traders, on the other hand, have not been deterred. In Thursday’s session, TWTR saw 99,447 contracts trade, with 74% of those trading as calls. As with AAPL, most of TWTR’s activity took place in the soon-to-expire weekly March 6 series.

Iamgold Corp (USA) (IAG)

Mining firm Iamgold has seen little in the way of headline news lately, but this hasn’t stopped options speculators from ramping up activity on the stock. On Thursday, IAG shares dipped nearly 2.7%, sending the stock back toward potential support near $2. Options traders seemingly pounced on the decline, with 99% of the 220,119 contracts trading on IAG crossing on the put side.

Taking a closer look, however, reveals that most of this activity was the result of one rather large position rollout. According to data from Trade-Alert.com, IAG saw two blocks of 45,000 put contracts trade between the bid and the ask in the weekly March 6 series, while another two blocks of 45,000 contracts traded simultaneously on the June 2 put at the ask. With open interest at the March strike higher than Thursday’s volume, and open interest at the June strike well below volume at that strike, it seems likely that we are looking at a roll-out — or at least the initiation of a rather large position on the June 2 put.

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

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/03/fridays-vital-data-apple-inc-aapl-twitter-inc-twtr-and-iamgold-corp-usa-iag-options/.

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