There's not a lot of buzz on Wall Street today following the Fourth of July holiday on Thursday, but automakers General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) and Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) have grabbed some headlines. Data showed the companies posted another quarterly decline in sales in China amid the U.S.-China trade dispute. This news has the shares of GM and F in the red in early trading.
GM is trading down 0.8% at $37.86, extending its volatile run on the charts in recent months. After the $40 area served as a ceiling for the equity from January through April, the shares fell to an early July bottom around $33 -- but have quickly battled back. Right now, they're trading just above the 100-day moving average.
In the meantime, call buying has remained popular at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), where 1.71 long calls have crossed for every put in the past 10 days. Volatility expectations appears muted at the moment, too, based on the Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 19%, which ranks in the low 8th annual percentile.
Ford stock is trading 0.8% lower at $10.10, though it's holding above recent support at the 50-day moving average and around $10 mark. The shares sport a year-to-date gain of 33%. As for options data, call buying has also been popular on Ford, with the 10-day call/put volume ratio at the ISE, CBOE, and PHLX coming in at 2.88, good enough to rank in the top quartile of its annual range. Plus, F's SVI of 21% also ranks in the 8th annual percentile.