Wednesday’s Vital Data: Facebook Inc. (FB), AT&T Inc. (T) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)

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U.S. stock futures are headed lower this morning. Volatility has ramped up lately, with Wall Street’s fortunes shifting with every tweet from President Donald Trump. Global tensions are up after Trump indicated in a tweet that missile strikes in Syria were coming against the Russian backed al-Assad regime.

stock market todayHeading into the open, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down 0.88%, S&P 500 futures are off 0.81% and Nasdaq-100 futures have fallen 0.76%.

Turning to the options pits, calls were quite popular amid yesterday’s rally. Overall, about 17.7 million calls and 14.8 million puts changed hands on the session. The CBOE single-session equity put/call volume ratio plunged to 0.57. The 10-day moving average hit a four-week low of 0.66.

Tuesday’s options activity was dominated by Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ:FB), as CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees. Meanwhile, AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) call traders gained confidence despite rumors of renewed merger talks between Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS). Finally, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) was boosted by a bullish note from Bank of America.

Wednesday’s Vital Options Data: Facebook Inc. (FB), AT&T Inc. (T) and Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)

Facebook Inc. (FB)

Facebook stock was the talk of the options pits yesterday. Traders speculated on the potential impact of CEO Zuckerberg’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The FB CEO fielded questions ranging from Facebook’s role in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections to how it handles users’ personal data.

Facebook stock options traders were clearly mixed heading into the testimony. Volume rose to a near-term high of 606,000 contracts. Calls, meanwhile, made up an annual low 52% of FB’s daily activity. Still, the news hasn’t slowed bullish speculation ahead of Facebook’s April 25 first-quarter earnings report.

Currently, the weekly April 27 put/call open interest ratio comes in at 0.66. In other words, bullish calls are clearly in command among options most affected by Facebook’s earnings.

AT&T Inc. (T)

A rising tide lifts all boats. The same is true with sectors on Wall Street. Yesterday’ AT&T stock gained nearly 2% after rumors spread that Sprint and T-Mobile were in merger talks again. As I’ve noted before, a Sprint/T-Mobile tie-up is not a good thing for AT&T, which is already struggling with losses due to cord cutters.

Despite the potential risks, AT&T stock options traders loaded up on calls following the news. Volume topped 168,000 contracts, more than doubling T’s daily average. Calls made up 69% of the day’s take.

AT&T also reports earnings on April 25, and weekly April 27 options are the place to be to speculate right now. Currently, AT&T stock options traders are quite bullish. The April 27 put/call OI ratio comes in at 0.58, with peak call OI totaling 5,500 contracts at the out-of-the-money $37 strike.

Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM)

Exxon stock received a boost heading into it’s April 27 quarterly earnings report. Analysts at Bank of America named XOM a top pick amid rising oil prices. “We believe Exxon Mobil has the capacity to restart buybacks in 2018 and could see potential upside from accelerating asset sales stalled through the downturn,” BofA said in a research note yesterday.

Exxon stock options traders ate the news up. Volume jumped to a near-term high of 130,000 contracts — more than doubling XOM’s daily average. Furthermore, calls made up a whopping 80% of the day’s take.

For a look at just how bullish XOM options traders are, the weekly April 27 put/call OI ratio rests at 0.43. In short, calls more than double puts among options set to expire the afternoon that Exxon releases it’s quarterly report. Traders are targeting both the April 27 $77.50 and $79 strikes with heavy call OI.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett held no positions on any of the aforementioned equities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/04/wednesdays-vital-data-facebook-inc-fb-att-inc-t-and-exxon-mobil-corporation-xom/.

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