Quiet volumes in stock and options after the long holiday weekend, and despite the opening gap higher of nearly 1%.
- TSLA – Looked like a closing seller of some fairly long dated puts today. A trader sold 13,3o0 of the Jan 2015 $30 puts at .80, vs open interest of 13,390, and also sold 17,543 of the Jan 2015 $18 puts at .25 vs open interest of 17,550. It is hard to speculate whether or not these were outright bearish or used as protection against a long position. The Jan 2015 $30 puts appear that they were bought on April 12th, when the stock was $43.75 for $7.00 per contract. Further back in February, a trader bought thr 17,55o Jan 2015 $18 puts for 3.00.
- EEM – right out of the gate this morning, on the opening gap, there was a large buyer of the Dec 38 Puts, paying 2.36 for 68k, they were not tied to stock. These options could have been closing as there was sufficient open interest to cover the block.
- TGT – Outright buyer of Oct 60 puts, paid .50 for 6k. TGT does not report monthly same stores sales, as many of its peers are expected to do, but the stock could trade in sympathy with others after what was a string of Q2 disappointments over the last month.
- GPS – 2 separate trades in stock that caught my eye, on a day where consumer related names lag. First there was a buyer this morning of 7400 of the Sept 40 puts, paying .50, and then in the afternoon there was a buyer of 4750 Dec 43 calls paying 1.53.
- MSFT – stock closed down 4.5% on the heels of their $7.2 billion purchase of NOK’s handset and business and license its patents. Options volume was not as brisk as one would expect at only 2.3x normal volume. The largest block in the name was a sale of 28k Jan 32 calls at 1.64, looks to close, vs buying 1.3 million shares for $31.70. Aside from the Jan 32 Puts, the the most active line on the day were 66k of the Sept 33 calls.