Wednesday’s Vital Data: Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon and JD.com

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U.S. stock futures are trading lower this morning. The Dow Jones is headed for its fourth losing session in a row. Tensions on Wall Street have risen since the Labor Day weekend, with trade concerns front and center.

Specifically, the U.S. and Canada are set to resume contentious trade talks after failing to reach an agreement last week. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S. will move forward without Canada if a new North American Free Trade Agreement can’t be reached. Yesterday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau echoed those remarks, stating that “no Nafta is better than a bad Nafta deal for Canadians, and that’s what we are going to stay with.”

Heading into the open, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.4%, while S&P 500 futures had lost 0.33%. Nasdaq-100 futures were lower by 0.4%.

In the options pits, volume was fairly normal for September. About 18.7 million calls and 13.6 million puts changed hands on the session. On the CBOE, the single-session equity put/call volume ratio dipped to 0.59. The 10-day moving average rebounded to 0.58 after hitting a fresh two-month low of 0.57 on Tuesday.

Options traders chased Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) higher yesterday following a pair of price-target increases. Elsewhere, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) saw call options volume rise after the company hit the $1 trillion valuation mark. Finally, JD.com (NYSE:JD) sold off after CEO Richard Liu was arrested on rape allegations.

Let’s take a closer look:

Wednesday’s Vital Options Data: Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon and JD.com

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)

AMD stock surged more than 11% to hit a fresh multiyear high on Tuesday. Driving those gains were a pair of analyst price-target hikes. First, Jefferies raised its price target from $22 to $30 citing market share gains in high-end notebooks. Jefferies also said that AMD has a technological advantage over Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) with its coming 7nm chipset.

Cowen also lifted its target on AMD, hiking it to $30 from $25. The ratings firm’s reasons were similar, blaming Intel’s continued delays on 10nm chip architecture for the AMD increase.

AMD trading near multiyear highs didn’t dissuade bullish options traders. Volume roared higher to roughly 1 million contracts. Calls claimed 71% of that wealth of activity.

Despite the added call activity, the September put/call open interest ratio still rests at a lofty reading of 1.02. In other words, there are still a fair amount of put traders betting on a reversal for AMD stock over the next couple of weeks.

Amazon.com (AMZN)

Amazon briefly joined Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the $1 trillion valuation rankings yesterday. AMZN stock hit $2,050.50 per share before sliding into the close. The shares added 1.33% on the day, and AMZN has more than doubled in the past year. What’s more, it took Apple 38 years to hit a $1 trillion valuation. It has taken Amazon only 21 years.

AMZN volume was markedly less brisk than AMD on the day. Still, over 280,000 contracts still crossed the tape on the shares. Calls accounted for about 57% of the day’s take.

That said, Amazon still has quite a few bears betting against the shares in the September series. For instance, the September put/call OI ratio rests at 1.29, with puts easily outnumbering calls for the series. Peak put OI rests at the $1,900 strike, however, hinting that these puts may be protective in nature or sold to collect premium.

JD.com (JD)

JD stock fell nearly 6% yesterday and is down another 4.5% in premarket trading this morning following rape allegations for CEO Richard Liu. Liu was arrested and let go in Minneapolis last week for the alleged offence of “criminal sexual contact — rape.”

Defense attorney Joseph Friedberg doesn’t believe there will be charges in the case. However, the Minneapolis Police Department said that charges (if there were any) would not be filed until completion of a criminal investigation.

JD options traders were divided on the outcome for the stock yesterday. Volume came in at double the daily average volume at 215,000 contracts. Calls and puts were split down the middle.

Sentiment on the shares is largely bullish in nature. Specifically, the September put/call OI ratio comes in at 0.52, with calls nearly twice as popular as puts in the series. If this story gains traction, however, we could see a reversal in put additions as JD stock slips further.

As of this writing, Joseph Hargett held no position in any of the aforementioned equities.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2018/09/wednesdays-vital-data-advanced-micro-devices-amazon-and-jd-com/.

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