Apple Inc. (AAPL) shares are slumping on the charts once again, despite the reveal of a new iPhone and Apple Watch
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook took the stage in San Francisco this afternoon, at an event held to reveal the company's latest line of products. As generally expected, this has so far included the new iPhone 7 and an updated iteration of the Apple Watch, plus a new partnership with Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), via the Apple Watch Nike+.
In addition to fresh product features for the iPhone 7, such as water resistance and an improved camera, it was revealed that Nintendo's "Super Mario Run" will soon come to the App Store, while Pokemon Go will be made available on the Apple Watch. So far, however, traders appear less than enthused, with shares of AAPL last spotted 0.2% lower at $107.46.
Technically speaking, today's slump shouldn't come as a huge surprise. After all, the shares have spent the last few weeks taking a breather, after a long recovery over the summer brought them back above the $100 century mark. Since then, the stock has run into trouble at the $110 level, as AAPL faces double-barred resistance from its 20- and 320-day moving averages. Potentially reinforcing this speed bump, heavy call open interest currently resides at the 110 strike in the September, October, and January 2017 series.
Today, AAPL calls are slightly accelerated, with the weekly 9/9 series continuing to be popular. The 108-strike call is the most active option thus far, with some buy-to-open action spotted, hinting at bullish expectations through week's end, when the series expires.
A bright spot for buyers is that premium on AAPL's near-term options should be pricing in low volatility expectations right now. The stock's
Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 21% ranks in the low 14th percentile of its annual range, while its 30-day at-the-money implied volatility sits lower than 92% of the past year's readings, at 18.3%. Plus, Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ:AAPL)
Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 89 suggests the shares have made bigger moves than the options market has priced in over the previous 52 weeks.
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