Markets
Trading the Volatility Crush after a Quarterly Earnings: Options in Focus

Trading the Volatility Crush after a Quarterly Earnings: Options in Focus

Disclaimer: This post is intended for education purposes only and should not be interpreted as a recommendation. Trading options may not be suitable for all investors. Options are all about movement and time. The more movement, the more expensive the options. The more...

Bulls Target Steel Giant with Leveraged Trade: Options Recap

One big investor is apparently feeling bullish as the world's top steelmaker moves higher. ArcelorMittal (MT) had its busiest session in over a year on Wednesday. Here's a breakdown of the large, leveraged strategy that accounted for more of the activity: A block of...

Bulls Target Steel Giant with Leveraged Trade: Options Recap

Bulls Target Steel Giant with Leveraged Trade: Options Recap

One big investor is apparently feeling bullish as the world's top steelmaker moves higher. ArcelorMittal (MT) had its busiest session in over a year on Wednesday. Here's a breakdown of the large, leveraged strategy that accounted for more of the activity: A block of...

Oil Holds Its Ground Despite Bearish News

Oil Holds Its Ground Despite Bearish News

Something weird is happening in crude oil: It's not going down on bad news. Last night the American Petroleum Institute reported energy stockpiles rose by 629,000 barrels, versus an estimated drop of 3 million barrels. Numbers from the Energy Department were even...

Another Strong Day in Housing

Another Strong Day in Housing

Last week we highlighted a rare green shoot in housing. Today it might have sprouted a little higher. Homebuilders, believe it or not, are the best-performing industry among dozens available on TradeStation's ever-useful RadarScreen comparison tool. Click here for a...

Monster Options Volume in New Media Darling

Monster Options Volume in New Media Darling

Love it? Hate it? Trade it! That's the story today in Netflix (NFLX). The new-media darling cratered this morning on news of weak subscriber growth, before clawing back most of its losses. Analysts were all over the map in response, with some cutting estimates and...

Big call roll detected in retailer: Options recap

Big call roll detected in retailer: Options recap

Someone's apparently using options to ride the bounce in a big-box retailer. Here's a breakdown of heavy options activity detected in Target (TGT) this morning: A block of 12,000 January 72.50 calls was bought for $7.55. An equal number of July 70 calls was sold for...

Massive Leveraged Trade in Media Space: Options Activity

Massive Leveraged Trade in Media Space: Options Activity

Disclosure: This post is intended for educational purposes only and should not be considered a recommendation. Options trading may not be suitable for all investors. A massive, high-risk options trade is looking for upside in the takeover-frenzied media space. Here's...

Cyclicals Lead as Stocks Climb Wall of Worry

Cyclicals Lead as Stocks Climb Wall of Worry

Stocks kept climbing last week, with higher-risk sectors leading the charge. The S&P 500 rose 1.5 percent between Friday, July 6, and Friday, July 13, to close at its highest level since February 1. The Nasdaq-100 surged even more into new record territory....

So Much for Inflation Running Wild This Summer

So Much for Inflation Running Wild This Summer

This week brought a trio of reports on inflation. None of them seemed to flash any warning signs about prices spiraling out of control. On Wednesday, the Labor Department said producer prices (PPI) rose 0.3 percent in June. That was above the 0.2 percent forecast. On...