Trading in Mastercard (MA) and Visa (V) is brisk Thursday afternoon, as shares fall on news a Fed staff has proposed debit card fee caps. The initial reaction to the headline was a move higher and MA hit an intra-day high of $254.01. Heavy selling ensued, however, and shares are now off $30.05 to $219.15 in very volatile trading. 24K calls and 37K puts have now traded in Mastercard. Meanwhile, Visa (V) gave up $9.86 to $67.08 and options volume includes 91K calls and 91K puts.
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NASDAQ OMX Group Inc (NDAQ) $23.89 +6.04%NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ) touched a new 52-week high and is up $1.39 to $23.92 after announcing plans to buy back 22.78 million shares at $21.82 each. The stock is up on the news and options volume includes 5,575 calls and 625 puts. Jan 25 calls are the most actives, with volume approaching 4,000 contacts and 78 percent trading at the asking price. Dec 24 and Jan 24 calls are seeing interest as well.
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Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) $71.99 -0.26%Exxon Mobile (XOM) loses 20 cents to $71.98 and is one of 18 Dow stocks trading lower late-Wednesday. Earlier in the session, a block of 20000 Jan 72.5 calls traded at $1.26 on ISE. It was initiated by an opening customer buyer, according to ISEE data. Doesn't look tied and appears to be a bullish play on the oil giant. Shares gapped higher when earnings were last reported on 10/28 and are up nearly 10 percent since that time. Meanwhile, crude (Jan) hit a high of $89.09 on bullish inventory data today, and was recently up 25 cents to $88.53 a barrel.
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Micron Technology Inc (MU) $8.05 -0.19%Micron shares have turned a penny higher to $8.07 and notable trade in April as the $7 put and $9 call trade 10,000 contracts each in bullish r/r (sold puts bought calls) for a 17c net debit. Open interest is sufficient to cover but this appears to be an opening transaction.
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MannKind Corporation (MNKD) $9.04 +6.84%MannKind (MNKD) options are actively traded and implied volatility is elevated heading into a December 29 PDUFA for the company's Afrezza. There seems to be some optimism building, as shares are up 54 cents to $9 today and 63.3 percent since earnings were reported on 11/4. Meanwhile, 26K calls and 11K puts traded in the biotech so far, or 2.5X the recent average daily. The top trade of the day is a Jan $9 - $10 call spread sold at 34 cents, 2735X and might be a roll of at-the-money calls to out-of-the-money calls. Jan 9 puts, Jan 15 calls, and even Jan 2.5 puts are seeing interest, as players jockey for position ahead of the news. Implied volatility is up another 9 percent to 226 and withing striking distance of recent 52-week highs (232).
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Chesapeake Energy Corp (CHK) $23.45 +1.87%Chesapeake shares are up 35c to $23.37 and saw sweep buyers of the Jan. $24 calls, as total of 10,038 trade between 58c-61c early Wednesday. Open interest is sufficient to cover, as a total of 11,775 have now traded, vs. 19,063 in OI. So, today's action might be closing after an 11.2 percent rally in shares so far in December.
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Amgen Inc (AMGN) $55.94 +3.39%Amgen (AMGN) options are actively traded and implied volatility is falling after the company late-yesterday announced positive results from a clinical trial of its prostate cancer drug. Shares hit a morning high of $57.22 and were recently up $1.89 to $56. The top trades of the day look like a bearish risk-reversal after a block of 4,705 Jan 60 calls traded on the 41-cent bid and 4,714 Jan 50 puts at the 21-cent asking price. Dec 55, Dec 57.5 and Jan 60 calls are the most actives. Some players are likely liquidating positions on the news. Implied volatility is falling almost 30 percent to 24.5.
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Seagate Technology (STX) $14.97 -0.27%Seagate (STX) loses 12 cents to $14.89 and STX Jan 14 calls are seeing early interest. The action is similar to last Thursday (see 12/9 color), as one strategist initiated a buy-write, selling Jan 14 calls for $1.23 against shares at $14.89 (34 cents over). 2500 contracts traded and open interest is 37.4K, now the fourth largest position in STX.
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ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG) $22.18 -0.67%ConAgra (CAG) saw notable call buying options that have a 2013 expiration Jan. $25 calls saw a block of 6,600 contracts trade at the $1.30 ask in what also looks like an opening purchase. Heinz (HZ), a rival ketchup and food maker saw similar bullish action its 2013 Jan $55 calls as a 7,300 contract block trades at the $2.10 ask in what looks like opening purchase.
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JDS Uniphase Corporation (JDSU) $14.12 +5.21%JDS Uniphase (JDSU) gapped at the open, touched a new 52-week high, and is up 68 cents to $14.10 after Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock to Outperform and raised its price target to $17. Options action is heating up as well. 7,050 calls and 1,385 puts traded so far. The Jan 15 calls are the most actives. 1,495 traded (52 percent ask). Dec 11, Jan 14, and Mar 13 calls are seeing interest as well. Meanwhile, implied volatility is up 5.5 percent to 36.5.
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