President Donald Trump approved the $14.9 billion merger via executive order
United States Steel Corp (NYSE:X) stock is up 5.1% to trade at $54.84 at last glance, after President Donald Trump approved a $14.9 billion merger with Japan’s Nippon Steel through an executive order on Friday.
The deal includes a national security agreement that will grant the U.S. government a "golden share," with Trump noting Americans will still own 51% of the company. Trump added the U.S. president will have "total control," but did not provide additional details around the deal's structure.
X is up 61.4% so far in 2025, and earlier hit a 14-year high of $54.91, with support from the 20-day moving average. The security had been testing support at $52.50 after a 21.2% bull gap in late May -- its largest since August 2023 -- which pushed it past overhead pressure at $45.
Options volume is today running at double the intraday average amount, with 38,000 calls and 25,000 puts exchanged so far. Most popular by far is the June 55 call, followed by the 45 put in that series.
Short-term options traders have been more bearish than usual. This is per X's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.16, which stands in the 80th percentile of readings from the past year.