Buzz Stocks: Tesla Motors, Exelixis, and Freeport-McMoRan

• TSLA is more than 5% higher at $236.80, after Consumer Reports called the company's P58D "the best-performing car" the magazine has ever tested. Tesla Motors Inc's newest model logged a 103 on the magazine's 100-point scale. Consumer Reports had to modify its scoring system so the auto would fit on the 100-point scale. Technically, TSLA was performing well until the recent market hiccup, and was in range of new highs in July. While the stock has pulled back a bit, it is relying on support from its 20-month moving average. TSLA has seen some bearish put activity recently, but the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.93 is lower than 88% of the readings taken in the past 52 weeks -- indicating short-term option traders are more call-heavy than usual.

• EXEL is 5% higher at $5.94, after the company announced that its experimental melanoma treatment, cobimetinib, has received regulatory approval in Switzerland, for use in combination with Roche's vemurafenib. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide on marketing approval for cobimetinib in November.  There is a chance the stock could benefit from a short-covering rally, as 24% of the equity's float is sold short.
  
  
• FCX is 17.6% higher at $9.31, after announcing that it will cut its 2016 spending plans by 29%. Freeport-McMoRan Inc added that it will reduce its headcount at its U.S. mining operations, due to copper prices at a six-year low. Technically, FCX has been drilling lower under pressure from its 10-day moving average, which has pushed the stock to a multi-year low of $7.76 yesterday. Despite this rather dismal performance, FCX's SOIR of 0.81 is lower than 80% of the readings taken in the past 52 weeks. 
  

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