The DJIA has received a major boost from Chinese markets and a solid start to earnings season
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is sporting a triple-digit advance -- and was up by nearly 250 points at its intraday peak -- as China's massive rebound has helped ease anxiety across Wall Street. Also, the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has managed to claw its way back into positive year-to-date territory.
As traders await the latest news on Greece, they're digesting a number of encouraging earnings reports, a larger-than-expected uptick in jobless claims, an oil rebound, and remarks from a pair of Fed officials -- including Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, who said monetary policy is "insufficiently accommodative" to meet the central bank's inflation and employment goals. Finally, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) trimmed its global growth projection to 3.3% from 3.5%.
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Among the stocks with notable put volume is tech firm F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV), where the contracts are crossing at 14 times the usual intraday rate. Most active are the weekly 7/24 115 and 119 strikes, which are seeing buy-to-open action, as traders gamble on losses by expiration at the close on Friday, July 24 -- just two days after the company reports earnings. At last check, FFIV was 0.1% lower at $117.73.
One of the top gainers on the Big Board is 500.com, Ltd (NYSE:WBAI), as a number of U.S.-listed Chinese stocks bounce back amid government intervention. Shares of the sports lottery provider have surged 18.5% to $20.16, bringing them back into positive year-to-date territory.
One of the biggest losers on the Big Board is beauty products marketer Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY), down 5.8% at $29.68. The drop follows on the company's $12.5 billion purchase of Procter & Gamble's (NYSE:PG) Clairol and Wella brands, confirming earlier speculation.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is off 1.4 points, or 7.1%, at 18.26.
Today's put/call volume ratio on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is 1.67, with puts outstripping calls. At last check, SPY was up 1.9 points, or 0.9%, at $206.42.