It's been a choppy session so far for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which has explored both sides of breakeven. With a speech from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer just getting underway, the Dow is in the red as slipping oil prices weigh on stocks -- November-dated crude oil was last seen down 1.5% at $49.60 per barrel. Uninspiring factory data is also applying pressure, with both the Empire State manufacturing survey and industrial production falling short of estimates. And while Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) kicked off a busy week of earnings with a win, the financial stock has since moved lower in the wake of its results.
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Discount specialist Groupon Inc (NASDAQ:GRPN) is among the stocks with unusual call volume at midday, with 4,879 contracts on the tape -- three times the average intraday pace, and seven times the number of puts traded. Attracting the most activity so far are the weekly 10/28 6-strike and November 5.50 call, where it appears new positions are being initiated. The stock is up 3.5% to $5.19 following some bullish brokerage attention, widening its year-to-date advance to 69%.
Among the top performers on the Nasdaq today is biopharmaceutical firm Omeros Corporation (NASDAQ:OMER), up 4.3% at $7.66 on upbeat drug data. Still, the stock has shed more than half of its value year-to-date, tapping a two-year low on Friday.
Biotech stock PTC Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PTCT) is among the worst performers on the Nasdaq, meanwhile. The stock has plummeted 30.4% to $9.23 today, bringing its 2016 losses to 71.5%, as the company prepares to escalate its fight against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) has added 0.1 point, or 0.7%, at 16.24.
Today's put/call volume ratio on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is 1.87 with puts nearly doubling calls. SPY was last seen down 0.2 point, or 0.1%, at $212.89.
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