Monday’s Vital Data: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI)

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U.S. stock futures are trading broadly higher this morning. Wall Street has turned its attention toward earnings season following a U.S.-led missile strike in Syria this weekend.

stock market todayBank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) set the tone for trading today. The company said that earnings jumped 51% to 62 cents per share on revenue of $23.1 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of 59 cents per share on sales of $22.907 billion. BAC stock is up nearly 1% in premarket trading.

As for futures activity, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 0.73%, S&P 500 futures have added 0.73% and Nasdaq-100 futures are up 0.77%.

Turning to the options pits, volume rebounded sharply on Friday. About 18.5 million calls and 17.6 million puts changed hands on the session. The CBOE single-session equity put/call volume ratio ticked higher to 0.66. The 10-day moving average held at 0.66.

Friday’s options activity saw Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) with mixed volume after the company released its new Ryzen lineup. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was call heavy as investors digested the company’s quarter earnings miss. Finally, NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ:NXPI) was flooded with put volume after the company extended its merger deadline with Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM).

Monday’s Vital Options Data: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI)

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)

AMD released its second-generation of Ryzen processors to very little fanfare on Friday. The new processor lineup includes the flagship eight-core Ryzen 7 2700X, which sells for $329. By comparison, Intel corporation’s current top chip, the i7-8700K, has only six-cores and sells for around $350. AMD’s new lineup goes on sale April 19.

AMD stock options traders appear to be more concerned with the continued drop in cryptocurrencies, however. Volume on Friday jumped to 390,000 contracts, nearly doubling AMD’s daily average. Calls only made up 53% of the day’s take.

Surprisingly, the May options series has turned quite bullish in the past week. Currently, the May put/call open interest ratio rests at 0.49, with calls more than doubling puts among back month options. Options traders are clearly betting on a post-earnings surge for AMD, which has yet to announce an official release date.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)

JPMorgan stock is getting a boost this morning from BofA’s solid quarterly earnings report. JPM itself released earnings last week, which were praised heavily in the financial media. However, Friday saw JPM stock drop sharply as investors pushed past the talking heads and dove deeper into JPMorgan’s quarterly earnings miss.

Profit taking was clearly in the works on Friday. Volume soared to 330,000 contracts, or more than four times JPM’s daily average. Calls made up 68% of the day’s take.

Checking in with May options, JPM speculators are not anticipating much follow-through buying. In fact, the May put/call OI ratio arrives at a lofty 1.10, with puts clearly in command. Whether these puts are protective or outright bearish in nature, this negative sentiment backdrop could be a warning for JPM stock going forward.

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NXPI)

NXP Semiconductors extended the deadline for its $44 billion merger deal with Qualcomm on Friday. The deal has been signed off on by all countries concerns, save China. The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Chinese regulatory reviews had slowed amid U.S.-China trade tensions, casting some questions over the NXPI/QCOM deal.

NXPI stock options traders are decidedly nervous about the extension. Volume on Friday soared to 242,000 contracts — more than six times NXPI’s daily average. What’s more, puts made up the bulk of Friday’s activity, claiming 77% of all activity.

A majority of those puts are holed up in the May series. At last check, the May put/call OI ratio had ballooned to a reading of 1.85, with puts nearly doubling calls for the series. That said, many of these puts could be related to arbitrage plays surrounding the merger deal — especially with the new deadline now set for April 25.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett was long on Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/04/mondays-vital-data-advanced-micro-devices-inc-amd-jpmorgan-chase-co-jpm-nxp-semiconductors-n-v-nxpi/.

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