The DJIA is down triple digits, as traders eye oil prices and central bank minutes
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is down triple digits at midday, as U.S. stocks stare down their third loss this week. Falling oil prices are sapping investor sentiment, with May-dated crude futures down 2.2% at $36.94 per barrel. Wall Street is also considering the latest European Central Bank (ECB) meeting minutes -- which come just a day after the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) minutes were released. Against this backdrop, the Dow's weekly deficit is roughly 1.3%.
Continue reading for more on today's market -- and don't miss:
Among the names with unusual option volume is the
iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF (NASDAQ:IBB), which is
giving back some of Wednesday's gains, down 1.2% at $282.38. IBB options are crossing at two times the average intraday pace, with the top four strikes belonging to the weekly 4/8 series. It appears some traders are selling to open the out-of-the-money weekly 4/8 267.50-strike put, betting on the exchange-traded fund (ETF) to stay atop the strike through tomorrow's close, when the contracts expire.
One of the top performers on the Nasdaq this morning is casino stock
Wynn Resorts, Limited (NASDAQ:WYNN). The shares are up 9.8% at $98.29 -- territory not charted since August -- on the
heels of an analyst upgrade and $1.6 billion plans for a Las Vegas resort. Even before today's pop, WYNN had outperformed the S&P 500 Index (SPX) by nearly 47 percentage points in the past three months.
Meanwhile, eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) is underperforming on the Nasdaq, falling 4.5% to $24.28 after reporting a drop in March same-store sales. It's been a tough year for EBAY, which is down 11.6%.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is up 1.4 point, or 9.8%.
Today's put/call volume ratio on the
SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is 2.07, with puts more than doubling calls. The SPY is down 1.9 point, or 0.9%, at $204.49.
Find out where the Dow lands right after the closing bell. Sign up now for Schaeffer's Market Recap