Boeing's 737-800 is at the center of a deadly crash in South Korea
Shares of embattled aerospace firm Boeing Co (NYSE:BAS) are 4.2% lower at $173.23 at last glance, a day after a fatal crash in South Korea involving the company's 737-800 aircraft. The passenger plane was operated by Jeju Air and killed 179 of 181 people on board.
This marks another deadly mishap in a long saga of disasters for Boeing. With today and tomorrow left in 2024, BA is down 34% year to date, the worst-performing Dow stock of the year. On the charts, the $170 level and 200-day moving average are containing today's pullback.
Boeing stock's options pits are brimming with bearish activity. Already, 45,000 puts have crossed the tape, which is seven times the intraday amount. Most popular are the weekly 1/3 170- and 165-strike puts, with new positions being sold to open at both contracts.
Calls have been more popular recently, per BA's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.60 that ranks in the 6th percentile of annual reading. Echoing this, the security's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 2.52 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) stands above 96% of readings from the past 12 months.
It's worth noting that BA's elevated Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 71 out of 100 implies a tendency to outperform volatility expectations -- a boon for premium players.