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JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) has some traders hopeful for additional upside
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is 3.2% higher today at $58.60, as financial names get a lift, with the increase in January payrolls and better-than-anticipated wage growth leading some to think the Fed could increase interest rates sooner than previously expected. In the meantime, activity has been heavier than usual in JPM's options pits, with calls trading at a pace 31% above normal intraday levels.
The most popular contract is the JPM March 60 call, where it appears some buy-to-open action has taken place. These bets indicate traders are expecting JPM to break through the round-number $60 level before back-month options expire at the close on Friday, March 20.
Looking back, the stock has not traded above $60 since early last month, prior to the post-earnings bear gap on Jan. 14. The shares are now off 6.4% in 2015.
Regardless, today's bullish approach from JPM's speculators is just more of the same. In the past 10 weeks at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock has registered a call/put volume ratio of 2.24, outdoing 86% of all such readings from the past year.
Analysts, too, are hopeful toward JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM). Seventeen covering brokerage firms rate the stock a "buy" or better, with three others calling it a "hold," while no "sells" can be found.