The
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI)
is set to add to last week's 1.7% slide, with futures mired in red
ink. Investors are bracing for an ugly day on the Street, with the
S&P 500 Index (
SPX
)
and the
Nasdaq Composite (COMP)
poised to participate in today's broad-market bloodshed.
Among equities in focus,
Yahoo (YHOO - 15.19)
announced a management shake-up;
Silver Wheaton (SLW - 26.46)
shorts may climb back on board post-earnings; and
InterOil's (IOC - 57.61)
quarterly results may please options players.
And now, on to the numbers...
Market Statistics
Equity option activity on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (
CBOE
) saw 1,408,909 call contracts traded on Friday, compared to
1,251,843 put contracts. The resultant single-session put/call
ratio arrived at 0.89, while the 21-day moving average was
0.60.
Currencies and Commodities
- The
U.S. dollar index
is marching higher this morning, with the greenback up 0.3% at
$80.51.
-
Crude oil
continues to swoon
, with June-dated crude down 1.8% at $94.76 per barrel.
-
Gold futures
are falling in step with oil, with the malleable metal 1.4%
lower at $1,562.40 an ounce.
Yahoo, Inc. (YHOO - 15.19)
In earnings news,
Silver Wheaton Corp. (SLW - 26.46)
said its first-quarter profit rose 20% to $147.2 million, or 41
cents per share, while revenue rose 26% to $199.6 million. The
results fell short of analysts' expectations for earnings of 44
cents per share on $202 million in sales. Short sellers reduced
their bearish bets by 23% in the latest reporting period, and short
interest now accounts for a slight 0.9% of SLW's float. SLW is down
1.7% ahead of the bell.
InterOil Corporation's (IOC - 57.61)
first-quarter profit swelled to $9.5 million, or 19 cents per
share. Revenue, meanwhile, jumped 39% to $338.2 million. The
results easily beat the Street's forecast for a per-share profit of
5 cents on revenue of $310.8 million. Near-term calls were popular
ahead of earnings, with the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open
interest ratio (SOIR) docked at 0.26. IOC is set to start the
session with a 0.7% lead.
Earnings and Economic Data
There are no major economic reports scheduled for today.
Agilent Technologies (
A
)
and
Groupon (
GRPN
)
are all due to step up to the earnings plate.
Overseas Trading
Asian markets ended mostly lower today, as Beijing's latest
policy-easing maneuver failed to boost investor sentiment. The
People's Bank of China unveiled plans to lower its
reserve-requirement ratio for banks at the end of this week,
marking the third such reduction since November. However, ongoing
political uncertainty in Greece kept equities under pressure. In
Japan, meanwhile, financial stocks helped tip the scales in the
bulls' favor, as the sector bounced back from Friday's steep
JPMorgan-inspired losses. By the close, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell
1.2%, China's Shanghai Composite lost 0.6%, South Korea's Kospi
declined 0.2%, and Japan's Nikkei edged up 0.2%.
European equities are wallowing in red ink at midday, as Greece
seems no closer to forming a coalition government today than it was
one week ago. With the fate of the cash-strapped country still up
in the air, traders were further rattled by data showing an
unexpected decline in euro-zone factory output in March. At last
check, the French CAC 40 is down 2.3%, the German DAX is off 2.1%,
and London's FTSE 100 has lost 2%.
Unusual Put and Call Activity:
For an explanation of how to use this information, check out our
Education Center
topics on
Option Volume
and
Open Interest Configurations
.
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