The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is down 405 points at midday, as traders digest a mostly gloomy docket of economic data -- with both 2015 retail sales and January's Empire State manufacturing index hitting their worst levels since 2009. Fresh losses in oil are also weighing on U.S. stocks, as is the official start of a Chinese bear market. With anxiety rising over a potential influx of Iranian imports, February crude futures were down 5.3% at $29.55, and exploring new 12-year lows.
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Among the stocks with unusual option volume today is casino concern Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN). Options are trading at three times their typical intraday volume, with calls outnumbering puts nearly 2-to-1. Traders appear to be buying to open the weekly 1/22 54.50-strike call -- which is currently in the money, as WYNN is trading up 8.9% at $56.07 on the heels of a well-received preliminary fourth-quarter report. However, WYNN is still sitting on a 19% loss for 2016.
Progress Software Corporation (NASDAQ:PRGS) is on the relatively short list of winners on the Nasdaq at midday, up 3.5% at $25.89 on reports that the company may be exploring a sale. After sliding lower through the second half of 2015, PRGS is finally trading back above last October's earnings-related bear gap.
Among the worst performers on the Dow today is Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), last seen off 4% at $95.19. Concerns over the company's ESPN division brought the stock a downgrade to "underweight" at Barclays. The security has lost about 21% of its value since late November, despite the record success of its latest "Star Wars" film.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is up 4.1 points, or 16%, at 28.01 -- a level not seen since late September.
Today's put/call volume ratio on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is 1.69, with puts significantly outnumbering calls. SPY was last seen down 4.7 points, or 2.4%, at $187.22.