Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Although normally an active options stock, there was significantly more volume than usual in Intel (INTC). The semiconductor giant saw almost 500,000 options trade on a big day last week, with 72% of the action on the call side. One interesting trade from the day was a very bullish three-legged spread where a put was […]
Cisco Systems (CSCO) is a blue chip networking giant that has become more of an income stock than a growth stock in recent years. The company currently pays a 2.3% dividend. The cash flow from owning CSCO can be significantly enhanced by using a covered call strategy. A strategist recently sold 7,500 January 2023 CSCO […]
While the markets were slow for the holiday season, it didn’t stop options in FuelCell Energy (FCEL) from trading quite briskly. The hydrogen fuel cell company released earnings last week and reported a wider than expected loss on lower revenues. The share price fell nearly 14% on the day with over 200,000 options trading. The […]
Corporate bonds are near all-time highs as yield seekers are looking to improve on low yields from government bonds. The iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD) is one of the most popular vehicles for getting exposure to high quality corporate bonds. However, the dividend yield is only 2.3% for LQD, and the […]
Unusual options activity was not quite as brisk this past week with the short holiday week, but Alcoa (AA) did trade over twice the options volume over what it normally trades. The aluminum giant has climbed from $45 to $60 this month after a number of positive news items came out, including the stock being […]
Covered calls can be an excellent way to improve returns while holding ETFs or other index products. For instance, a trader recently place a large covered call trade in the iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM). The trader purchased one million shares of IWM while simultaneously selling 10,000 calls that expire in two weeks. This strategy […]
The popular Cathie Wood ETF, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), continued its run in unusual options trading territory last week. ARKK is a popular speculative stock ETF that holds a lot of the buzzworthy names in the tech world such as TSLA, ZM, and COIN. One interesting trade from the week was a very large call […]
Apple (AAPL) shares have been on fire lately, as the company is nearing the $3 trillion market cap level. It would be the first company to reach such a lofty valuation. The stock has been popular lately as investors have been in something of a flight-to-quality mode. What’s more, investors appear to be excited about […]
Last week, a highly unusual amount of options action occurred in iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP). TIP is a popular ETF for investing in TIPS bonds, which are treasury bonds that are indexed to inflation. In other words, as inflation goes up, these bonds go up. While the ETF has $38 billion in assets, it […]
Market volatility has been at its highest since February. Small cap stocks have been particularly volatile lately. Keep in mind, small caps tend to get sold early when there is a flight to quality. The popular small cap stock ETF, iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) dropped from a 52-week high near $245 all the way […]
