U.S. stock futures are riding the inflation rollercoaster this week. Wall Street is showing some jitters ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s first day of testimony in front of Congress. Investors will keep a keen focus on any comments on inflation or interest-rate hikes.

Wall Street’s nervousness is showing up in futures this morning. At last check, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.16%, S&P 500 futures were off 0.2% and Nasdaq-100 futures had dipped 0.13%.

Turning to the options pits, volume ticked higher on Monday, though remained below 2018’s average. About 19.7 million calls and 16.5 million puts changed hands on the session. The CBOE single-session equity put/call volume ratio ticked lower to 0.59. The 10-day moving average slipped to 0.62, hitting a three-week low.

Taking a closer look at yesterday’s options activity, Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM) calls gained traction following news on its Broadcom Ltd. (NASDAQ:AVGO) merger talks. Meanwhile, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) drew mixed activity after restating earnings and restructuring it’s Board of Directors. Finally, Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE:DKS) was flooded with puts despite a lack of any headline news.

Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM)

The saga of Qualcomm’s unsolicited bid for Broadcom continued yesterday. Qualcomm held its second meeting with Broadcom, and feels the meeting went well. “The Qualcomm Board believes the meeting led to further progress toward a possible negotiated transaction on key issues other than price,” Qualcomm said.

Later in the day, however, Broadcom called the statement misleading and engagement theater. Qualcomm responded by calling on Broadcom to negotiate in good faith.

Always down for speculation, QCOM options traders gobbled up yesterday’s back and forth. Volume jumped to 271,000 contracts, or more than triple QCOM’s daily average. Calls made up 68% of the day’s take.

Overall, QCOM options traders are quite bullish on the company’s prospects. The March put/call open interest ratio arriving at a lowly 0.31, with calls tripling puts among front-month options.

General Electric Company (GE)

GE is not out of the dog house yet, but it may finally be seeing light at the end of tunnel. The company announced that it has cut it’s 2016 and 2017 earnings per share after adopting a new accounting standard. GE is also revamping its board of directors.

“In late March, we will provide comparative results for 2016 and 2017 that reflect the new standard,” GE said. The company has already put up three new directors for it’s board, as well, with nine existing members standing for re-election.

GE stock options traders were mixed on the news. Volume rose to over 506,000 contracts, or more than double GE’s daily average. Calls only managed 53% of the day’s take.

In fact, one GE options trader believes there is still more downside, as a block of 10,000 January 2019 $13 puts were bought to open yesterday for the ask price of $1.05. Trade-Alert.com reports the block arrived early in the day, shortly after the news hit.

Overall, the March put/call OI ratio rests at 0.74, which is down from a near-term peak, but remains elevated compared to the past year’s readings.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc (DKS)

Despite a lack of any headline news yesterday, Dick’s Sporting Goods was flooded with options volume. About 180,000 contracts changed hands on DKS stock, more than 39 times the shares’ daily average volume. Puts made up 99% of that activity.

Diving into data from Trade-Alert.com reveals that the March $25 put was the culprit, attracting volume of 175,000 contracts. These trades were split nearly evenly between the bid and ask prices at the time they crossed the tape. Even more interesting is that open interest at the March $25 put currently totals just 90,767 contracts, meaning yesterday represents new OI at the strike.

DKS stock is currently consolidating into its 50-day and 200-day moving averages in the $30 region. What’s more, these trendlines are on the verge of a bullish cross.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett was long on General Electric Company (GE) stock.