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Bullish flow detected in Louisiana Pacific (NYSE: LPX), with 2901 calls trading, or four times its recent average daily call volume.
Bullish flow detected in Solarfun Power (NASDAQ: SOLF), with 5363 calls trading, or three times its recent average daily call volume.
Bullish flow detected in Goodrich Petroleum (NYSE: GDP), with 5166 calls trading, or 22 times its recent average daily call volume.
Increasing volume is also being seen in Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO), Halliburton (NYSE: HAL), and TIVO (NASDAQ: TIVO).
Sentiment
Stocks are broadly higher on a relatively light news day Monday. With no economic data on the calendar, the focus is primarily on the day’s stock news. McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) edged higher and is one of 24 Dow stocks in positive territory after the fast food chain reported earnings that matched Wall Street estimates. JC Penney (NYSE: JCP) gained 7% after announcing that it was slashing jobs to cut costs. Trading across other markets is orderly. Treasurys are little changed heading into a two-day FOMC meeting that begins tomorrow. Gold lost $4.60 to $1,336.40 an ounce and crude oil slipped another $1.43 to $87.68 a barrel. Meanwhile, Alcoa (NYSE: AA) gained 3.6% amid strength in the cyclicals and is the best gainer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow has added 89 point on the session. The tech-heavy NASDAQ gained 28. With less than an hour to trade, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) gave up .84 to 17.63. Trading in the options market remains busy, with 7.6 million calls and 5.7 million puts traded so far.
Bullish Flow
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD), which lost 6% on earnings news Friday, has recaptured 4 cents to $7.58. Options volume in the chipmaker through midday is focused on AMD February 8 Calls with 31,694 traded, including several blocks at 19 cents on the International Stock Exchange, which are opening customer buyers, according to the exchange.
Momenta Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MNTA) has some momentum today, gaining 90 cents to $16.05 and heading to session highs. Options volume includes 9,480 calls and 1,210 puts. Most of the action is in Feb calls with strikes ranging from 15 to 20. Implied volatility is elevated around 116 (-2.5%) and overall flow seems bullish, possibly in anticipation of earnings, due around Feb 10.
Bearish Flow
Steve Smith notes for WhatsTrading.com today that: BHP Billiton Ltd. (NYSE: BHP) shares are up $1.40 to $89.60 and option volume is running two and a half times the daily average being driven by volume in the August $75 put and $100 call as each has traded 3,800 contracts in what looks like opening bearish risk/reversal (sold calls and bought puts) for 5 cent debit. The company has been on the prowl for acquisitions since it bid for Potash was rejected but has also promised to deliver a dividend payment to shareholders. This may be done against stock or as a preemptive placeholder of an arbitrage position. The company is slated to report earnings Feb. 16.
Implied Volatility Mover
Clinical Data (NASDAQ: CLDA) gapped up, to a high of $25.35, and is $8.37 higher to $23.40 after the FDA approved the company’s anti-depressant drug. Options are actively traded and includes a block of 3,432 CLDA Mar 30 Calls at 90 cents when the market was 60 to 75 cents. Another block of 2,958 CLDA Feb 25 Calls traded at $1.25, which was also above the $1.10 asking price. Beyond that, CLDA options are seeing mixed trading, but predominantly on the call side of the options chain. 24,000 calls and 2260 puts in the first 20 minutes. Implied volatility down 67% to 67.
Frederic Ruffy is Senior Options Strategist at Whatstrading.com, a site dedicated to helping traders make sense of the complex and fragmented nature of listed options trading.
