The DJIA overcame a slow start to see steady gains around midday
After a sluggish start, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) has managed to extend its lead around midday, and is on pace for a fourth straight win. Traders are shuffling through the latest earnings numbers from a few financial heavyweights, while considering surprise drops in both June retail sales and import prices, and an in-line rise in May business inventories. Meanwhile, crude remains in focus -- and was last seen hovering around breakeven after an early drop -- following last night's nuclear deal with Iran.
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Among the stocks with notable call volume is motorcycle giant Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG), with the contracts changing hands at 15 times the expected intraday pace. The most popular contract is the July 57.50 call, with all signs pointing to buy-to-open activity. Simply put, traders are betting on extended gains from HOG above $57.50 before the options expire at the close this Friday. The shares were last seen 1.8% higher at $57.57.
One of the top gainers on the Nasdaq is Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), with the shares gaining 11% to trade at $19.55, on reports China-owned Tsinghua Unigroup could make a $23 billion offer for the company.
One of the top losers on the Big Board is National Bank of Greece (NYSE:NBG). Shares of the Greek financial institution are keeping their volatile streak alive ahead of tomorrow's key parliament vote, dropping 6.6% today to trade at $1.13. NBG has now trailed the broader S&P 500 Index (SPX) by over 13 percentage points during the past two months, due in part to repeated overhead resistance from its 120-day moving average.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is off 5.5% at 13.13.
Today's put/call volume ratio on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is 2.67, with puts easily doubling calls. The SPY was last seen 0.4% higher at $210.53.