Morning Note Oct 11th

October 11, 2011


US equity futures are following European markets lower as ECB's Trichet reiterated a sense of urgency in regard to dealing with the Eurozone Sovereign debt crisis in order to avoid contagion. The Slovakian vote on approving changes to the EFSF rescue fund is expected at ~7:00 ET is looking less likely to be approved though there are reports that the parliament can put the ratification to repeated ballot once a political agreement with the opposition is in place. Earnings season unofficially kicks off with Alcoa (AA) after the close.

EU/IMF/ECB inspectors say Greece will miss 2011 target, says Greek 2011 fiscal target no longer within reach.

Sep NFIB Small Business Index 88.9 vs. 88.1 in August

Options Flow Recap Aug 31th

Macro / Thematics

 

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx  EEM - 11,000 of the September 44 / 47 put spread was bought for $2.50.

 

VIX - 10,000 of the September 50 calls were bought for $0.375

 

Financial Select Sector SPDR (ETF) XLF - 17,000 of the March 13 straddle was bought for $2.72.

 

 

Options Flow Recap Aug 30th

Macro / Thematics

iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Indx EEM  - 58,000 of the December 34 / 40 put spread was bought for $1.34 versus a sale of 50,500 of the September 41 / 46 put spread was sold at $3.23; 50,500x


iShares MSCI Japan Index EWJ - 20,000 of the January 9 / 10 strangle was sold at $0.76 and tied to 240,000 shares at $9.70. Separately, 10,000 of the January 10 calls were sold at $0.40.

iShares MSCI South Korea Index Fund(ETF)   EWY - 2500 of the September 45 / 55 put spread was bought for $1.70.

iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index FXI - 18,750 of the September 40 calls were sold at $0.27. 

GLD - 5000 of the October 200 / 220 call spread was bought for $1.475 tied to $178.50.

IYR - 20,000 of the September 50 puts were sold at $0.24.

QQQ - 11,000 of the November 52 puts were sold at $1.75. The puts were sold to open.

XLI - 5000 of the December 33 calls were sold at $1.49

Morning Note

July 27, 2011

Equity are trading mixed relative to fair value as ongoing debt gridlock continues to weigh on the markets. Banks in Europe are trading lower after Goldman Sachs in a strategy note downgraded the sector. Amazon (AMZN) is up ~6% in Germany after reporting Q2 yesterday after the close.

S&P statement on the rating of the United States; On July 14th, S&P placed the credit rating of the U.S. on CreditWatch Negative. In announcing the CreditWatch, S&P highlighted several factors that it will consider in determining whether to revise its 'AAA' rating on the U.S., including the need for lawmakers to agree on a plan to deal with the federal deficit and develop a credible solution to the country's debt burden. Standard & Poor's has chosen not to comment on the many and varying proposals that have arisen in the current debate.

Any statement to the contrary is inaccurate.

PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian on Bloomberg TV

Options Flow Recap May 12

Blogger was down all day yesterday .... sorry for the delay. 

Macro / Thematic

XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR (ETF)  – 15,000 of the July 15 puts were bought for $0.27.

EWZ iShares MSCI Brazil Index (ETF) – 10,000 September 45 puts were bought for $0.11. The puts were bought to open and are currently 36% out of the money.

GLD SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) – 10,000 of the December 125 puts were bought for $2.00. The puts are currently 14.7% out of the money