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Can Financials Hold? Huge Options Trade Targets Key Level

Can Financials Hold? Huge Options Trade Targets Key Level

Financial stocks got hammered yesterday, and someone's watching a key level. Check out this giant put spread in the SPDR Financial ETF (XLF), which holds key names like Bank of America (BAC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM): 72,540 November 26 puts were bought for...

Streaming Wars Dominate Activity: September at TradeStation

Streaming Wars Dominate Activity: September at TradeStation

The streaming wars came to TradeStation last month, with two of the biggest stocks in the industry dominating activity on our platform. Roku (ROKU) was the second-busiest symbol among our clients in September. The provider of media players lost one-third of its value...

What Recession? Chip Stocks Had Another Strong Quarter

What Recession? Chip Stocks Had Another Strong Quarter

Two strange things happened last quarter: Chip makers went up and health-care stocks went down. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index ($SOX) rose almost 7 percent between June 28 and September 30. Meanwhile the SPDR Health Care ETF (XLV) slid about 3 percent. This is...

Stocks Down as Range Tightens Before a Huge News Month

Stocks Down as Range Tightens Before a Huge News Month

Stocks fell again last week but remain trapped in a range as investors wait for some huge news events next month. The S&P 500 slid 1 percent between Friday, September 20, and Friday, September 27. Still, the index held some key levels and remained within striking...

Market Gets a Timeline for China Talks, Just in Time for Earnings Season

Market Gets a Timeline for China Talks, Just in Time for Earnings Season

Investors just got a timeline for the most important concern facing the market, President Trump's trade war with China. Last night, CNBC reported that Vice Premier Liu He will visit Washington on October 10 and 11. Those are the first specific details the talks since...

What You Need to Know as Money Rotates Back to Value Stocks

What You Need to Know as Money Rotates Back to Value Stocks

A potentially big change tried to continue in the market yesterday. Two weeks ago, a new kind of stocks began to rally: banks, industrials, retailers and small caps. Meanwhile previous outperformers including technology, gold miners and real-estate investment trusts...

Call Buyers Look for a Heavily Traded Chip Stock to Start Running

Call Buyers Look for a Heavily Traded Chip Stock to Start Running

Some options traders seem to think one of the market's most active stocks is ready for a rally. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has barely moved for the last month, but a surge of volume yesterday looked for a rally by the end of this week. Traders amassed more than...

The Fed Takes a Hawkish Turn, Thanks to the U.S. Consumer

The Fed Takes a Hawkish Turn, Thanks to the U.S. Consumer

The Federal Reserve took a hawkish turn yesterday, thanks to an improving U.S. consumer. "Household spending has been rising at a strong pace," the central bank declared in its policy statement yesterday. It then proceeded to raise its 2019 growth forecast to 2.2...

Massive Activity Across the Energy Space Following Drone Attacks

Massive Activity Across the Energy Space Following Drone Attacks

Trading volumes surged across the energy space yesterday after a drone attack clobbered the heart of Saudi Arabia's oil industry. Crude oil futures (@CL) traded more than 1.3 million contracts, the busiest session in at least a decade. Several other securities...