Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods is weighing on consumer discretionary stocks
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) is chopping below breakeven at midday, though the blue-chip index remains on pace for a fourth straight weekly win. Traders are digesting news that Amazon is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, a development sending shock waves across the retail sector -- and putting the pressure on shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT). In fact, Amazon and Whole Foods stocks are two of the biggest S&P 500 Index (SPX) gainers today. The Nasdaq Composite (COMP) is also lower amid continued weakness out of the tech sector. As such, the SPX and COMP are staring down a second straight weekly drop.
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- Plus, options volume surges on supermarket stocks; a rallying Wall Street newbie; and Cal-Maine Foods sinks.
Among the stocks with unusual options volume today are supermarket stocks Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ:COST), and Wal-Mart, as traders strike following the Amazon-Whole Foods news. For instance, TGT options are trading at 10 times the norm, COST's at 13 times the norm, and WMT's at eight times the expected pace. However, not all of this action is bearish. For example, buy-to-open activity has been detected at Costco's July 170 call and at Wal-Mart's June 75 call, the latter of which expires at tonight's close.
One stock rising on the New York Stock Exchange today is online car-selling platform Carvana Co (NYSE:CVNA). However, this is nothing new, as the shares are on pace for a ninth straight win. CVNA stock was last seen up 5.8% at $18.70, and earlier hit their highest point on record, at $18.75.
Over on the Nasdaq, egg seller Cal-Maine Foods Inc (NASDAQ:CALM) is down 6.8% at $36.45, following a downgrade to "sell" from "neutral" at Goldman Sachs. CALM stock is down 17.5% year-to-date, with recent breakout attempts thwarted by its descending 200-day moving average.