Today's stocks to watch in the news include JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Cree, Inc. (CREE), and Tesla Motors, Inc. (TSLA)
U.S. stocks are surging after the Bank of England (BoE) announced its decision to leave interest rates unchanged, and after a solid start to earnings season for banks. Among equities in focus today are finance stock JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), lighting and semiconductor stock Cree, Inc. (NASDAQ:CREE), and electric automaker Tesla Motors, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA). - JPM is up 2.2% at $64.57, after kicking off big bank earnings by delivering a solid second-quarter report, thanks to improved trading revenue and expense control. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is down 6.5% year-over-year, but thanks to today's pop has now erased its post-"Brexit" losses. Recent option buyers could be feeling the heat today, with JPM's 50-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) of 0.99 sitting in the 95th percentile of its annual range. In other words, traders bought to open JPM puts over calls at a faster-than-usual clip during the past 10 weeks.
- CREE is up 9.7% at $27.50, after announcing the sale of its Wolfspeed Power Unit to German-based chip maker Infineon Technologies AG for $850 million. This bump puts the stock well into in positive territory year-over-year, and finally edges CREE above the $25-26 range that has contained its rally attempts since an early April bear gap. There's likely some option bears kicking rocks after this news, with CREE's 10-day ISE/CBOE/PHLX put/call volume ratio currently sitting at 4.24, higher than any other reading from the past year.
- TSLA is down 0.2% at $222.11, after Consumer Reports urged Tesla Motors, Inc. to temporarily disable "Autosteer" and stop referring to the system as "Autopilot," which "gives consumers a false sense of security." Further, "we're deeply concerned that consumers are being sold a pile of promises about unproven technology," said Laura MacCleery, vice president of consumer policy and mobilization for the consumer magazine. Likewise, Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas is also encouraging TSLA to reconsider using the word "Autopilot." This is just the latest chapter in the controversy over its Autopilot system, which is has been under scrutiny since the death of a Tesla driver in early May. TSLA is down 15.9% year-over-year, and short interest has jumped 9% over the past two reporting periods, with 29.5% of TSLA's float now sold short -- an amount that would take just under a week of trading to cover, at TSLA's average daily volume. Continued shorting pressure could work to exacerbate TSLA's downward trend.
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