Paper Bought 44000 NOK Jan14 Calls for $0.37 (2.7 times usual volume) when stock was trading $2.56
Paper Bought 30000 MBI Jan14 5 Puts for $0.60 (14.4 times usual volume) when stock was trading $10.33
Paper Bought 14500 BBY Jan13 18 Puts for $2.30 (2.6 times usual volume) when stock was trading $17.99
There is plenty of news to play to today. The Jobless claims Report and Producer Price Income Reports are set to come out at 8:30 AM EST, the FOMC Forecasts at 2:00 PM EST, followed by the Bernanke’s press conference at 2:15 PM EST. Last week, there were 365 thousand new jobless claims reported and projections have a growth in claims to 370 thousand with a possible high of 380 thousand. The Producer Price Index, which measures the average change in prices received by domestic producers, is projected to increase 1.4%, but only 0.2% not including food and energy.
The Fed estimates released today will cover GDP growth in 2012 and 2013, inflation and unemployment. The market’s movement over the past couple weeks suggests that investors and traders expect an announcement of intervention, and the only tool the Fed has left is a quantitative easing. I expect heavy movements late in the day today or early tomorrow morning during higher trading volume.
The Apple (AAPL| 669.79) iPhone 5 event has finally passed and consumers are left with an upgraded version of the iPhone 4. AAPL was up $9.20 at the end of the day after many volatile movements, hitting new highs and lows throughout the day, a $15 range. In pre-market trading today, AAPL is up again another $5.71 to around 675.50, which is less than ten points from its all-time high hit at the end of last week. One company that should be highlighted during all the hubbub about the iPhone 5 is Nokia.
Nokia Corporation (NOK| 2.75) has had a tough year with a 52-week range of 1.63 – 7.38. NOK has been in steady decline since the beginning of the year. In pre-market trading today, NOK is up 1.82% and expect it to continue to grow if iPhone fanatics get bored with the new upgraded model. If you have seen the Lumia, you know that Nokia has built a beautiful product worthy of competing with the best smartphones. The new Lumia phones are said to run on the windows phone 8 operating system. An earnings report is expected around mid-October, estimating a $-0.12 EPS. I might look away from a short play on NOK, but a long-term and cheap OTM call spread would be a play that interests me.
Alex Kalish has a master’s degree in economics from Suffolk University.
For comments, questions, or suggestions: alexk@keeneonthemarket.com
The Hang Seng went the opposite direction losing 0.4% today hit by weakened non-bank financial, brokers and insurers. China Life Insurance, the largest mainland insurer, slid 3.5% today. A rival, Ping AN Insurance, lost 2.6%. Haitong Securities lost 4.4%. China Construction Bank, China’s second largest lender, slipped 0.8% today. China Petroleum and Chemical Corp was the only of 3 Chinese Oil companies to rise today gaining 3.4%.
European shares were down today with revised data that Spain’s economy has contracted more than previously estimated, 0.3% vs a previously estimated 0.1% in 2010, the Spanish IBEX was down 0.8% today. Spanish and Italian Banks were down with BancoSantandor losing 1.3% and Unicredit down 0.8%. Trading was thin today due to the UK market being closed for a public holiday. Nokia, the world’s second largest cell phone maker, jumped 11% today after rival, Samsung, lost a court case against Apple. Around Europe the Dax is up 0.2%, the CAC 0.10% and the Madrid General is down 0.4%.
Ford breaks ground on a new factory in Chongqing, China where it will produce its 2-liter ecoboost engine.
Crude and Natural gas are both set to begin up over 1%, silver up 0.5% and gold the opposite way 0.2%.
Contributer Chris Rygh is currently pursuing his MBA in Wisconsin and has a passion for the Market. Comments can be directed to ryghcw19@uww.edu