Implied Volatility Mover
Nexen (NXY) drops 52 cents to $24.25 in active trading of 11.5 million shares and implied volatility in the options on the Canadian energy company is moving up, even after Bloomberg ran a story suggesting that Cnooc’s bid to buy the company is “moving along.” There has been uncertainty about the deal and whether or not Canadian regulators will approve the Chinese company’s attempt to buy Nexen. On the options front, 8,950 calls and 5,950 puts have traded in NXY. December 27 calls and January 20 puts are the most actives. Implied volatility is moving up 18.5 percent to 74.
Volume Signals
SPDR Oil and Production Fund (XOP) options volume is running 4X the (22-day) average, with 83,000 contracts traded and put volume accounting for 97 percent of the volume.
McMoran (MMR) options volume is 3X, the average daily, with 69,000 contracts traded and call volume representing 53 percent of the activity.
Allstate (ALL) options volume is running 9X the average daily, with 60,000 contracts traded and call volume accounting for 94 percent of the activity.
Increasing options activity is also being seen in Acadia Pharmaceuticals (ACAD), Corning (GLW), and DirectTV (DTV).
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