The DJIA is higher at midday, thanks to a rebound in oil
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is modestly higher at midday, with energy stocks leading as oil prices rebound above $36 a barrel. Meanwhile, traders are considering a gross domestic product (GDP) revision that was less severe than expected, while existing homes sales fell by 10.5% to their lowest level in 19 months -- the steepest drop in five years -- with realtors blaming new paperwork regulations.
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Toy maker Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAS) is among the stocks with elevated put volume, with the contracts crossing the tape at 27 times the average intraday rate. Most of the action is attributable to the huge roll of January 2016 70-strike puts to February 65 puts, per Trade-Alert. The stock is up 1% at $65.96 today, and sits on a 20% gain for 2015, but the shares have been sliding lower over the past several weeks, unable to catch a tailwind from the "Star Wars" hype.
Among the biggest losers on the Big Board today is Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG), falling 4.2% to trade at $500.33 -- and just off an annual low of $497.56 -- as a new batch of E. coli cases sparked a big downgrade. The stock has underperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by more than 30 percentage points over the last three months, and analysts have been slashing their ratings as CMG continues to slump on the charts.
Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) is among the top performers so far today, after news broke that the company is working with Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) to produce self-driving cars. The shares are up 2.8% at $14.12, and options traders are snatching up calls, as the F attempts to regain its year-to-date losses, which currently stand at x%.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is down 1.1 points, or 5.6%, at 17.65.
Today's put/call volume ratio on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is 1.88, with puts outnumbering calls. SPY was last seen 0.4 point, or 0.2%, higher at $202.11.