Daily Options Report

Some action from yesterday via Cuttone and Company

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF $100.63 last) traded lower after a  Credit Suisse conference in London was somewhat muted. Traders looked to the options market to hedge some longs as the March puts were active. The March 85/90 put spread was purchased 4500x for a $0.48 premium. Puts outpaced calls as 25,000 traded vs. 13,000 calls.

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OSIP $57 last) gained ground after a story that the bid may rise as Astellas Pharma is seeking cancer sales. Traders flocked to the July 60 calls, driving implied volatility north. Over 9,400 traded on the day between $1.25 and $1.45. Open interest in the line was a mere 1,980 contracts, so most of this volume was opening.

Commercial Metals Company (CMC $17.75 ) soared over 7% as chatter of a possible deal with Nucor hit the street. Traders looked to the March 17.5 calls as over 19,600 traded on the day. This is about equal to the open interest.  In the April contracts, over 7,000 of the 20 calls changed hands where open interest was a mere 1,373. A few of these rumored deals have occurred over the past few months so traders felt they needed to be involved.

Will have to check what he means on the OSIP one, but interesting situation there. The stocks's already well north of the bid, and the puts are not high for a deal name. The market clearly expects a higher bid. And now a much higher bid if they think the 60's are in play.