The markets saw broad selling pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average down another 207 points to the bottom of the correction range. From a technical standpoint the DJIA the down broke through support at 13,041; but is still above the numerically significant 13,000 level.
The NYSE had volume of 3.8 billion shares with 440 shares advancing while 2,924 declined for a loss of 174.59 points to close at 9,254.27. On the NASDAQ, 2 billion shares traded, 797 advanced and 2,234 declined for a loss of 43.12 to 2,499.12.
With all the market volatility, options continued to be very active. In options there were 7.6 million puts and 6.2 million calls traded for a put/call open interest ratio of 1.21. Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) saw heavy volume on the January 45 calls (KOAI) with over 44,000 options trading. General Motors (NYSE: GM) tallied volume on the August 30 calls (GMHF) with over 31,000 options trading. American Express (NYSE: AXP) saw heavy volume on the January 60 calls (AXPAL) with over 28,000 options trading. Home Depot (NYSE: HD) moved heavy volume on the August 45 puts (HDTI) with over 90,000 options trading.
Kevin Kersten is an Options Analyst with InvestorsObserver.com. Disclosure note: Mr. Kersten owns and or controls a diversified portfolio of long and short positions that may include holdings in companies he writes about.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-15-2007 @ 8:37AM
slick said...
"Numerically significant" 13,000???
Firt of all, in this context, what does "numerically significant" even mean? Nothing. Pure babble.
Second, 13,000 on the DJIA is utterly meaningless, except to the media. From a technical point of view, it is meaningless. I gather you are trying to imply it's psychologically important? It isn't. Do you actually know ANYBODY who buys or sells based on round big numbers? Assuming you did know a few such lunatics, their impact would be nil on the markets.
8-15-2007 @ 9:24AM
Kevin said...
Yes, "Numberically significant" is another way of pschologically important. The DJIA is the most widely reported market number and when it dips down into the 12,000 level people will notice. A similar argument could be made for why things in the store are priced at 11.99 instead of 12.00; Are we saying people are so dumb they will buy more of something at $11.99 that they wouldn't buy at $12.00. Well one walk through a suppermarket answers that question.