U.S. Justice Department is opening a criminal investigation
The shares of Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) are sliding, after news that the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) is opening a criminal investigation into January's infamous Alaska Airlines (ALK) flight, in which a section of a Boeing 737 MAX jet blew out mid-flight. Furthermore, in a newly developing story, at least 50 people were injured aboard a LATAM flight from Sydney to Auckland due to a technical issue that caused the Boeing 787-9 aircraft to quickly lose altitude.
BA last seen down 2.5% at $193.50, trading at its lowest levels since November. Since the start of the year, the equity is down 25.6%, with pressure at its 20-day moving average helping to guide the shares lower.
Over in the options pits, 22,000 calls and 41,000 puts have been exchanged so far today -- volume that is triple the amount typically seen at this point. The March 190 put is the most popular by far, with new positions being opened there.
Over the past 10 weeks, though calls have still won out on an absolute basis, puts have been picked up at a much faster-than-usual rate. This is per BA's 50-day put/call volume ratio of 0.85 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX).