Buzz Stocks: Bank of America, Google, and Biogen

Futures appear poised to extend yesterday's rally, as traders take in earnings from several firms, including Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC). In other company news, today's stocks to watch include search engine king Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and biotech concern Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB).

• The shares of BAC are 0.6% lower in electronic trading, as traders digest the firm's first-quarter earnings report. On the charts, the shares of Bank of America Corp have been lackluster in 2015, down over 13% from their Dec. 31 annual high of $18.21 to close Tuesday at $15.82. Heading into today's session, traders were upping the bullish ante on BAC, as its 10-day International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) call/put volume ratio of 5.46 is higher than 79% of all similar readings taken in the past year. Elsewhere, the brokerage bunch is mostly bullish on BAC as well, considering that 61% of covering analysts rate the stock a "buy" or "strong buy."


• News that European regulators have formally filed antitrust charges against GOOGL has the stock 0.3% lower ahead of the bell. Technically speaking, the shares of Google Inc have met resistance near $580 in 2015, but are still up 1.7% year-to-date to finish yesterday at $539.78. Meanwhile, traders have been favoring calls over puts in the options pits -- over the last 50 days at the ISE/CBOE/PHLX, 1.81 GOOGL calls have been bought to open for every put, which is a higher ratio than 90% of all similar readings taken over the past year.


• On the other hand, the shares of BIIB are 1.6% higher in premarket trading, following news that the biotech firm's cutting-edge nerve repair drug Anti-LINGO-1 had "mildly encouraging" results in clinical trials. Looking back, Biogen Inc has been a technical beast, with the shares up 48.4% year-over-year to close Tuesday at $423.57. Surprisingly, puts have been prominent in the options pits, as BIIB's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 1.35 reads in the 85th percentile of its annual range. However, the brokerage bunch is more optimistic on the security, as 73% of covering analysts rate it a "strong buy."