The Option Block

Trading Block: Stocks fall as ECB, Fed weigh next moves. White says short selling getting her "intense attention." Earnings:   Before the bell today:  Kohls Corporation, Viacom After the bell today:  Applied Materials, Inc., Cisco Systems CSCO - $27.94, ATM Straddle: $1.40 - Approx. 5% Stocks to Watch: Kohls, Advance Auto Parts, Derma Sciences Odd Block: Puts trading in United States Steel Corp. (...

Trading Block: Who was right about volatility? What will the Fed do? Crude doubletalk from OPEC. Crude curve looking interesting. Odd Block: Calls trade in EFA-big upside call closer, calls trade in MW, and puts trade in MDT. Strategy Block: You, too, can be a winner. Or, the importance of looking at your whole portfolio. Mail Block: Listener questions and comments. Question from 777: What quirks...

Trading Block: Earnings! Before the bell today:  Apache, Celgene Corporation, Crocs, Inc., After the bell today:  Walt Disney Company, DreamWorks Animation News: DIS: $113. ATM straddle: $4.85, 4.3%. On a huge rally since massive selloff in August. OCC Cleared Contract Volume Declined 26% in October. Market falls in line with Yellen, but now Fed credibility at stake. Odd Block: Calls and puts trad...

Trading Block: Earnings! Before the bell today: Visa, Cardinal Health, Estee Lauder, After the bell today: Allstate Corporation, AMC Entertainment, Avis Budget, Fitbit, Inc., Tenant Healthcare Corporation Chipotle tumbles after e. coli outbreak is linked to chain. Odd Block: Calls trade in Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN), puts trade in Pilgrims Pride Corp. (PPC), and calls trade in Sprouts Farmers Market...

Trading Block: Earnings! Before the bell today: Coca-Cola, CME Group Inc., the biggest futures-market operator, said profit soared in its third quarter, lifted by higher trading volume and growth in the company’s market data and information services business. After the bell today: BAIDU, Electronic Arts, Expedia, LinkedIn Corporation, Starbucks. EA - ATM Straddle $4.70 - Approx. 6.2% Also, on this...

Option Block 473: Behold the Power of Deo Trading Block: What is happening right now? Earnings! Before the bell today: Xerox Corporation. Wall Streets next test: Profits, data, and the Fed. The S&P 500 rallied 2.1% last week - its fourth consecutive week of gains. Once again, Apple is expected to fuel earnings. Gold rally brings out options bulls. Odd Block: Calls and puts trade in Diageo PLC (DEO...

Trading Block: Today we feature special guest Dan Cook from NADEX. Earnigns: Before the bell today:  Eli Lilly, 3M, Dow Chemical, McDonalds, Nasdaq, Sirius, Southwest Airlines After the bell today:  Alphabet Inc., Amazon, AT&T, Microsoft, Pandora News: Dow surges more than 275 on McDonald's, ECB stimulus talk - McRevenge! McDonald's turns table on Chipotle. Now that Google Is Alphabet, options sug...

Trading Block: Oprah buys 10% of Weight Watchers, stock soars. Also, earnings! Walmart (WMT) stock plunged 10% last week on sharply lower guidance from the company. Analysts expect Amazon (AMZN) to report a 21% jump in revenue compared with the year-ago period. Yahoo (YHOO) is also expected to notch a 15% jump in revenue. Analysts are betting on Microsoft (MSFT) and IBM (IBM) to maintain reasonabl...

Trading Block: VIX - The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index fell 4.6 percent Thursday to 17.21, after back-to-back gains for the first time since Sept. 28. VIX is down 30 percent this month, on track for the most since July. Earnings:  The third-quarter earnings crunch begins this week. Mattel (MAT) - $22.26, Oct 22 straddle - Approx. $2 / 9% move. Netflix (NFLX) added fewer subscribe...

Trading Block: S&P over 2000. Is Tosaw a bull again? VIX weekly options launch today - after a long wait they are finally here! BlackRock proposes remedy for extreme volatility. Insider trading spreads outside of stocks - New York attorney general Eric T. Schneiderman has launched an inquiry into DraftKings and FanDuel Odd Block: Strange and unusual activity in P, UUP, and AMX. Listener Mail: List...

Trading Block: The streak is broken - VIX Cash finally breaks 20! "More execs should have gone to jail after financial crisis" Bernanke says. Stocks jump as expectations ease of U.S. rate hike; oil gains. The London Metal Exchange (LME) introduces measures to grow options trading on exchange. Odd Block: Puts trade in Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB), calls trade in Conoco Phillips (COP), and cal...

Trading Block: A mild selloff at the end of another volatile session: S&P High - 1927, Low - 1900. The S&P 500 slumped 2.6% in September, and posted its first back-to-back quarterly decline in four years. VIX Cash 23.42. US stocks advance, shaving worst quarterly rout in four years. Short sellers cash in Apple bets as stock declines. Metals are getting massacred. Odd Block: Calls trade in SPDR S&P...

Trading Block: An aggressive selloff on the street today. Profits from Chinese industrial companies down 8.8%. GLD taketh away recently. Odd Block: Strange and unusual activity in BBY, KRE, and MU. Strategy Block: Uncle Mike discusses trading and managing risk as a perpetual bull. Around the Block: Will the Chinese bloodbath continue?

Option Block 465: The Feckless Fed Trading Block Auto-parts suppliers option implied volatility increases on Volkswagen probe. U.S. stocks decline as investors crave more guidance from the Fed.   Odd Block Calls and puts trade in DISH network Corp. (DISH) Calls trade in Horizon Pharma PLC (HZNP) Puts trade in Merck & Co. (MRK)   Strategy Block Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses rolling options on vertical...

The Option Block 465: The Great Internet Meltdown Trading Block The Skype Gods conspired against the All-Star Panel on this episode. But we're back nonetheless with more options analysis, unusual activity, listener mail and more.  Topics covered in the Trading Block today include: the still wonky VIX futures term structure, the endless debate over the FED, 70X returns on Volkswagen puts and much m...

Trading Block: August US listed options volumes grew 12% compared to July, reaching a new monthly high in 2015. VIX dips below 20.00 for the first time since August 20th after FOMC statement. No hike: Fed keeps benchmark rate near zero. Citing global economic weakness and financial market turmoil, the Federal Reserve agreed Thursday to keep its benchmark interest rate near zero despite the rapidly...

Trading Block: Alibaba - Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA -4.05%) have tumbled recently amid an array of problems. U.S. stocks decline amid focus on Fed rate decision this week. Traders are preparing for massive Fed-driven volatility. The SPDR S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) put-call ratio dropped hard to well below its 20 DMA on Friday. Odd Block: Calls trade in Anheuser Busch Inbev SA (BUD), puts t...

Trading Block: Federal Reserve may bring new life to fed-funds options pit. Apple plans land with a thud. Apple is pulling out all the stops, but nothing it seems, can get the stock moving or get investors jazzed again.   Odd Block: Calls trade in Whiting Petroleum Corp. (WLL), calls trade in Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), and calls trade in Rite Aid Inc. (RAD). Listener Mail: Listener questions and commen...

Trading Block: Panel of ex-Fed officials say no rate hike will come at September meeting   Monthly Volume Breakdown: OCC cleared contract volume rose 33% in August. Year-to-date average daily cleared contract volume is up 0.15 percent from 2014 with 16,809,864 contracts in 2015. Exchange-listed options volume reached 426,328,677 contracts in August, a 33 percent increase from August 2014 volume of...

Trading Block: Dow off about 100 points in choppy trade, tries to stay out of correction. Goldman Sachs thinks this volatility index should be much lower:  The VIX is trading like the U.S. is in a recession. If the options market is right, China stock rescue is doomed.   Odd Block: Calls trade in UltraShort Euro ProShares (EUO), calls trade in Xerox Corp. (XRX), and calls trade in Arch Coal Inc. (...

Trading Block: Selloff or rally? The market needs to make up its mind. Whither the VIX: there was a brief flirtation with 50 handle now back into the more “sensible” 20 handle. So, it takes a massive selloff in the marketplace to get VIX over 50. AAPL had a 20 handle range this week. We missed the deal of the century on the AAPL Sep 75 puts.   Odd Block: Calls trade in BTU, calls trade in P, and p...

Trading Block: The DJIA briefly slumped more than 1,000 points, its biggest point-drop ever. VIX Cash hit 53.29 at 10am. The VIX jumped as much as 90 percent to 53.29, its highest since January 2009. VIX didn’t update for 30 minutes as options quotes got erratic. AAPL hit a low of $92 before rebounding.   Around the Block: Retail earnings season winds down this week

Trading Block: 6.5 month low. Breaking through big technical levels in the S&P. Huge move in VIX. A rundown of soft and hard losers. When Wal-Mart becomes a flight-to-safety. Everything is NOT awesome.   Odd Block: Strange and unusual activity in MSFT, PNK, and POT. Mail Block: Listener questions and comments in response to Monday’s show. Comment 1 from @MarkBrant1KM: One thing I learned from Dr....

Trading Block: Stocks to watch include: Tesla, Zulilly, Pentair, and Estee Lauder. Gold trading outlook: Futures extend gains on US rates speculations. U.S. stocks rise as investors turn focus on economic strength. Odd Block: Call spreads go up in Williams Companies Inc. (WMB), giant call roll in Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (HIG), and calls trade in Xilinx Inc. (XLNX). Strategy Block:...

Trading Block: Bearish options bets on Apple are spiraling higher. Stocks to Watch: Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA) +2.26%), American Apparel Inc. (APP), Lenovo Group Ltd. (HKG). OCC and U.S. Securities Market Coalition ask U.S. Department of Labor to allow use of listed options in retirement accounts.   Odd Block: Calls trade in SYSCO Corp (SYS), puts trade in SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield (JNK), and...