The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI - 12,619.55) has soared 85 points, or 0.7%, higher today, as Wall Street cheers yet another round of encouraging housing data, as well as a better-than-expected durable goods report. Conversely, the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX - 19.61) has shed 0.1 point, or 0.6%.

Here are a few noteworthy stats at midday:

1. The equity put/call volume ratio across all nine options exchanges stands at 0.97, with 2.1 million puts being exchanged so far today, compared to 2.2 million calls.
   
   
2. Among the equities seeing heavy put activity is Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (NYSE:BUD - 73.02). The stock has added 0.5%, as the beer maker continues its acquisition-related talks with Mexico's Grupo Modelo. Options players have paid no mind to today's advance, though, with puts accounting for 94% of the equity's intraday activity.
   
   
3. The put/call volume ratio on the iPath S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) sits at 1.04, with calls and puts relatively even-keeled.
   
   
4. The Nasdaq shows an advance/decline ratio of 2.39, indicating that the number of advancing equities more than doubles the number of declining stocks.
   
   
5. Among the Nasdaq components enjoying positive price action today is Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB - 143.23), with the stock tagging an all-time high of $143.74 in early trading. On Tuesday, the manager of the T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund waxed optimistic about growth opportunity among biotech firms. At last check, BIIB was up 0.9%.
   
   
6. Bullish sentiment rose last week, according to the latest Investors Intelligence survey. The percentage of financial advisors with a bullish view on stocks climbed to 38.7% from 37.2%, while the percentage bearish fell to 24.7% from 25.6%. Meanwhile, the percentage of investors expecting a market correction backpedaled to 36.6% from 37.2%.