Ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) afternoon announcement regarding interest rate updates, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI - 13,952.19) is fractionally lower, as a weak fourth-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) reading has overshadowed an upbeat earnings report from The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA). Specifically, the Commerce Department said GDP fell to a yearly rate of 0.1% between October and December of last year. Economists, on average, had expected a growth rate of 1.0%. Meanwhile, the ADP National Employment Report showed private employers created 192,000 jobs in January, besting economists' predictions for a gain of just 165,000. Elsewhere, the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX - 13.84) is 0.5 point, or 4%, higher.

Here are a few noteworthy stats at midday:

1. The equity put/call volume ratio across all 11 options exchanges stands at 0.92, with 3.4 million calls exchanged so far today, compared to 3.2 million puts.
   
   
2. Among the equities with heavy call activity is Staples, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPLS - 13.75), which has tacked on about 0.7%. Currently, calls represent 99.5% of the retailer's intraday option volume.
   
   
3. The put/call volume ratio on the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (NYSEARCA:VXX - 23.33) checks in at 0.70, with calls outnumbering puts.
   
   
4. The Nasdaq shows an advance/decline ratio of 0.69, with the number of downward movers outstripping the advancers.
   
   
5. Among the Nasdaq's major decliners is OpenTable Inc (NASDAQ:OPEN - 52.74), which has shed about 4% in intraday trading. The stock was downgraded to "perform" from "outperform" at Oppenheimer ahead of the opening bell.