Earnings season continues to be unkind to the DJIA, while gold's swoon shows no signs of relenting
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is staring at significant losses, due to some lackluster earnings performances -- including one by blue chip Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). Even Dow components Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) and The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) -- which topped quarterly expectations this morning -- are struggling to hold on to earlier gains. Elsewhere, existing home sales came in better than expected last month, home prices rose in line with estimates, crude stockpiles unexpectedly jumped -- exacerbating the commodity's downward trend -- and gold touched yet another five-year low.
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Among the stocks with notable call volume is
GoPro, Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRO), as the contracts are crossing at six times the usual midday rate, on the heels of a
strong quarterly report. The weekly 7/24 series is extremely active today, accounting for eight of the 10 most popular strikes. At last check, GPRO has stepped back 2.2% to trade at $60.66, but since its March 10 low at $37.13, has surged over 63%.
One of the top gainers on the Big Board is Lifelock Inc (NYSE:LOCK), which is bouncing back from Tuesday's sell-off despite getting hit with a round of bearish brokerage attention. At last check, shares of the identity protection firm have popped 9.1% to trade at $8.89, but are still sitting on a 52% year-to-date deficit.
One of the biggest advancers on the Nasdaq is medical equipment maker Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ:ISRG), boosted by an earnings beat and several bullish analyst notes. Currently, ISRG is up 10.6% at $558.49, and fresh off an annual high of $564.86.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is up 0.2 point, or 1.4%, at 12.39.
Today's put/call volume ratio on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is 1.82, with puts nearly doubling calls. At last check, SPY is off 0.2% at $211.35.