Options Action Heats Up in the Agriculture Sector
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s been another low volatility morning in the markets. All the major indices have been fluttering around unchanged and looking a bit tired as volume remains relatively low.
Although the initial direction appeared bullish following a strong retail sales number, the broad market quickly took a turn to the downside as consumer sentiment declined to 72.50 in March from a reading of 73.6 in February. Economists were expecting the March sentiment reading to come in at 74.
The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) is creeping higher to 18.4% and the CBOE Nasdaq-100 Volatility Index (VXN) also edging slightly higher to 19.77%, even with the minor moves in the underlying indices.
We saw a likely buyer of 2,500 of the Potash (NYSE: POT) January 2012 calls hit the tape this morning, which could be perceived as bullish as Potash hiked its profit outlook for the first quarter, which is being reflected in the stock price; POT is currently up 7% at $125. This is also on a day when the merger war between industry peers Yara International, CF Industries (NYSE: CF), and Terra Industries (NYSE: TRA) seems to be coming to an end.
Remember there are a few hours left in the trading day and the volume of these issues may continue to rise, but this is where we are seeing some heavy options activity today. Also remember that options can be bought or sold and volume does not indicate which side the trades are on:
C: $4.07 down $0.1100 or 2.63% volume: 483.43 million shares
Mar10 4.00 Calls: volume over 86764, versus open interest of 754012
Mar10 4.00 Puts: volume over 70451, versus open interest of 433712
USO: $40.03 down $0.0200 or 0.05% volume: 3.74 million shares
Mar10 43.00 Calls: volume over 30108, versus open interest of 51832
Mar10 40.00 Calls: volume over 12590, versus open interest of 47195
TRA: $46.16 down $0.7400 or 1.58% volume: 14.24 million shares
Mar10 46.00 Puts: volume over 18486, versus open interest of 19532
AAPL: $226.66 up $1.1600 or 0.51% volume: 7.21 million shares
Mar10 230.00 Calls: volume over 17291, versus open interest of 29184
SVU: $17.03 up $0.9600 or 5.97% volume: 9.71 million shares
Apr10 17.50 Calls: volume over 16552, versus open interest of 3666
CF: $95.80 down $4.8100 or 4.78% volume: 5.43 million shares
Mar10 95.00 Puts: volume over 12567, versus open interest of 29059
Mar10 90.00 Puts: volume over 9898, versus open interest of 17247
AA: $13.67 up $0.0300 or 0.22% volume: 11.42 million shares
Apr10 12.00 Puts: volume over 12220, versus open interest of 28069
POT: $124.47 up $7.5410 or 6.45% volume: 8.64 million shares
Mar10 135.00 Calls: volume over 11703, versus open interest of 8481
Mar10 125.00 Calls: volume over 11122, versus open interest of 14945
NVDA: $17.22 up $0.0250 or 0.15% volume: 6.28 million shares
Mar10 18.00 Calls: volume over 11203, versus open interest of 13984
F: $13.14 up $0.2305 or 1.79% volume: 46.09 million shares
Mar10 13.00 Calls: volume over 10632, versus open interest of 82714
Jan11 12.50 Puts: volume over 10102, versus open interest of 63772
CA: $22.60 down $0.0600 or 0.26% volume: 1.29 million shares
Mar10 22.50 Puts: volume over 10050, versus open interest of 2690
EWY: $48.78 down $0.1700 or 0.35% volume: 0.67 million shares
Apr10 43.00 Puts: volume over 10000, versus open interest of 297
These are my team’s observations. If you have seen something else in your own analysis, please add your voice in the comments.
Photo Credit: Frankie Roberto
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