While the market plummeted 311 points today on loan worries; it is easy for people to forget the market is still up. Last week when the Dow broke 14,000; it was up 12.3% for the year. Now the market is up 8.1%. But are we really in a crisis? Market corrections are a normal part of the action and we will live through it. People celebrate when their favorite retail stores have a sale and drop prices; but when the stock market has a sale they panic.
The NYSE had volume of 4.2 billion shares with 313 shares advancing while 3,036 declined for a loss of 275.98 points to close at 9,654.38. On the NASDAQ, 3.5 billion shares traded, 553 advanced and 2,583 declined for a loss of 48.83 to 2599.34.
Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM) fell $8.91 (-19%) to $38.27 on outlook. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE: GT) fell $2.87 (-9%) to $29.18 on cut forecasts. Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) fell $5.60 (-11%) to $45.50. OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) fell $3.1 (-8%) to $33.65 after Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) weighed down the sector with lower results.
The options market saw about two and have time normal activity with 11.3 million puts and 8.6 million calls for a put call ratio of 1.3. A lot of this volume was on the indexes we usually ignore index option volume because it isn't that interesting by the PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ: QQQQ) saw heavy volume on the August 50 calls (QQQHX) with over 109,815 options trading and the 49 calls (QQQHW) moved over 84,000 contracts. On the put side of things there were a lot of people buying insurance with the August 48 puts (QQQTV) moving 147,000 options trading and the August 49 puts (QQQTW) counted over 122,000 options traded. Apple Computer (NASDAQ: AAPL) saw heavy volume on the August 150 calls (APVHJ) with over 74,816 options trading as the stock moved up 6% today. General Motors (NYSE: GM) saw heavy volume on the January 40 calls (GMAH) with over 33,000 options trading.
Kevin Kersten is an Options Analyst with InvestorsObserver.com. Mr. Kersten does own Office Depot Stock.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-26-2007 @ 7:29PM
DayNovo said...
What with Google "tumbling" and the Dow "plummeting" this has been quite a weak for stocks. Not one for the feinthearted - either as an investor or a headline writer.
For more consideration click:
http://sneakybusiness.typepad.com/sneaky/2007/07/dow-plummets-tu.html
7-27-2007 @ 10:25AM
Arizona Home Owner Insurance, Phoenix Insurance Company, Insurance Consultant Phoenix said...
But when the housing market is showing such declines that can be cause for real concern. It might take months to show up but a serious decline in home building affects a whole lot of other industries that may be subject to a lagging effect.
Insurance Consultant Phoenix
8-10-2007 @ 2:57PM
Paul said...
What's going on with Sotheby's real estate division. The Wall Street Journal reported (Aug. 3 issue) that Sotheby's CEO William Ruprecht said its real estate division is listing properties that aren't "the perfect expression of the Sotheby's brand." The Journal in a lengthy article reported that many lower end homes are being sold via Sotheby's, causing anxiety amongst Sotheby's company executives.... but much to the delight of competitor Christie's.