The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI - 12,986.08) is just fractionally higher, thanks to comments made by House Speaker John Boehner, who noted that little progress has been made regarding the fiscal-cliff impasse. On the economic front, the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales index rose 5.2% last month -- notching a near six-year high, and topping economists' expectations for a 1% rise. Meanwhile, the Labor Department revealed that weekly jobless claims fell by 23,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 393,000. Also of note, gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a rate of 2.7% in the third quarter, according to the Commerce Department, up from earlier estimates of 2.0%, and marking its fastest pace in almost three years. However, this latest figure fell slightly short of the 2.8% rate projected by economists polled by Reuters. Elsewhere, the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX - 15.44) is 0.1 point, or 0.5%, lower.

Here are a few noteworthy stats at midday:

1. The equity put/call volume ratio across all 10 options exchanges sits at 0.81, with 4.0 million calls exchanged so far today, compared to 3.2 million puts.
   
   
2. Among the equities with call-slanted activity is Kohl's Corporation (NYSE:KSS – 46.76), despite shedding about 8.6% today. The company reported that same-store sales dropped by 5.6% in November, versus an expected rise of 1.9%. Nevertheless, calls account for 75.1% 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 - 29.45) -- which touched a new all-time low of $28.93 earlier in the session -- stands at 2.84, with puts almost tripling calls.
   
   
4. The Nasdaq shows an advance/decline ratio of 2.43, with the number of upward movers outstripping the decliners by a margin of more than two to one.
   
   
5. Among the Nasdaq's major advancers is Research In Motion (USA) (NASDAQ:RIMM - 11.76), which has gained around 6% in intraday trading, after receiving some bullish brokerage attention ahead of the open.
   
   
6. Optimism jumped during the week ended Nov. 28, according to the latest survey by the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII). The percentage of investors with a bullish view on stocks rose to 40.9% from 35.8%, while the percentage bearish fell to 34.4% from 40.8%. Meanwhile, the percentage neutral climbed to 24.7% from 23.4%.