Buzz Stocks: J C Penney Company Inc, Apple Inc., Tiffany & Co.

U.S. stocks are down, thanks to falling oil prices, a strengthening dollar, and another slew of disappointing retail earnings reports. Among equities in focus today are department store retailer J C Penney Company Inc (NYSE:JCP), tech stock Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and luxury retailer Tiffany & Co. (NYSE:TIF).

• JCP is the latest in a long line of retailers to deliver disappointing quarterly results at the earnings confessional. The department store stock is down 5.4% at $7.38, after announcing the company's first comparable-store sales miss in 10 quarters. J C Penney Company Inc's shares have lost nearly 40% of their value since reaching a two-year peak in March, and recently crossed their 160-day moving average, which lent the stock support for most of 2015. Even prior to today, JCP's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) was at 25 -- in oversold territory --  due to sector-wide headwinds. Put buyers have been especially interested in the stock, with JCP's 50-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 1.10 currently in the 98th percentile of its annual range.
  
  
• AAPL is up 0.9% at $91.11, clawing higher from yesterday's annual low, after the tech titan announced it had invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, China's largest ride-share app. The stock may still be set to finish the week under the critical $92 level, though. However, AAPL's 14-day RSI of 23 indicates that perhaps a short-term bounce was in the cards. Near-term options players have been exceptionally call-biased, even after blue chip's longest losing streak in decades, with AAPL's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.59 sitting lower than 99% of all other readings from the past year.

• TIF is down 2.4% at $64.80, after the luxury good retailer's CFO announced his resignation, effective May 20, to become the finance chief at consumer goods company Newell Brands Inc (NYSE:NWL). TIF has stair-stepped lower since hitting a record high of $96.43 in August, and this week breached its 80-day moving average -- which halted the equity's late-2015 rebound attempts -- after an earnings miss. Put players have been hot on the stock lately, with Tiffany & Co.'s 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio of 11.2 higher than it has been at any other point in the past 12 months. 

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