Defense firm Lockheed Martin (LMT) is scheduled to unveil its fourth-quarter earnings before the market opens tomorrow, with analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expecting a profit of $1.99 per share on sales of about $12.5 billion. LMT has a solid history in the earnings spotlight, having exceeded Wall Street's consensus expectations in each of the previous four reporting periods.

However, at least one investor is feeling anxious ahead of Thursday morning's event -- around 11 a.m. Eastern today, a collar spread crossed the tape on LMT. A block of 300 contracts traded at the equity's February 80 call at the bid price of $0.75, while a matching block of 300 contracts simultaneously traded on the February 75 put for the ask price of $1.50. With LMT trading near $77 at last check, both options are currently out of the money.

Late Monday, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) unveiled its plan to sell $1.2 billion worth of stock in order to repay its TARP loan to the U.S. Treasury Department. The company priced 42 million shares at $28.75 a piece, a discount of 3% to the stock's close on Monday.

Even though BK passed the government's stress test with no trouble, the bank is nonetheless eager to raise funds and pay off its debt to the government. Other financial firms selling stock to repay TARP loans include Capital One Financial (NYSE: COF) and U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB).

However, investors seem none too pleased with BK's dilutive stock offering. The security shed 2.5% within the first 10 minutes of today's trading, extending BK's retreat from double-top resistance at the $33 level. The shares first shied away from this region in mid-April, and pulled back from the $33 neighborhood again last week.

AIG (NYSE: AIG) is recently down $0.56 to $63.28. Smith Barney says, "AIG has yet to provide investors with an earnings release date for 3Q '07 results. In the wake of the subprime meltdown, investors are eager to asses the fate of AIG's $29 billion of subprime mortgage exposure and its credit guaranty business." AIG call option volume of 13,468 contracts compares to put volume of 36,042 contracts. AIG November option implied volatility of 44 is above a level of 33 from last night and above its 26-week average of 22 according to Track Data, suggest larger near term risk.

Daily options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Note: The Daily Option Update is provided by Stock Options Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Volatility Index S&P 500 Options-VIX up .02 to 10.25.

Compass Bancshares-(NASDAQ:CBSS) option volume heavy & implied volatility up to 24 from 15. CBSS is recently up $3.91 to $65.67. Compass Bancshares, a financial services firm based in Birmingham, Alabama, is up on unconfirmed chatter SunTrust-(NYSE:STI) is interested in a M&A transaction with CBSS. CBSS call option volume of 3,887 contracts compares to put volume of 999 contracts. CBSS daily average volume over the last ten business days is 424 contracts. CBSS March option implied volatility of 24 is above its 26-week average of 16 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

Option volume leaders today were: Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), Alcoa (NYSE:AA), Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and Bidu (NASDAQ: BIDU).

U.S. stocks were mixed in trading yesterday. The Dow was down 0.01%, the NASDAQ 100 down 0.01%, the S&P 500 up 0.08%, and 10-year bond rates decreased to 4.5950%. The CBOE VIX was down .14 to 10.35. In the next twelve days, only six will be trading days.

• Redback Networks Inc.'s (NASDAQ: RBAK) call activity suggests another bid above Ericsson's (NASDAQ: ERIC) $25 bid is expected. Redback agreed to sell itself to Ericsson for $25 per share in cash, but has been recently trading at $25.58. Redback January 25 calls have traded 587 times on transaction volume of 21,094 contracts according to Track Data. Redback January 25 calls are bid .85 cents, suggesting option market makers expect a higher hostile buyout bid.
  

• Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) January option implied volatility of 24 suggests decreasing risk. Google is recently trading at $465.28, and with a January option implied volatility of 24 is at the low end of range according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price risk.
  

• The Brink's Company's (NYSE:BCO) options have been busy on higher volatility as Brink's trades up to a new record. Brink's, a leader in security and risk management services, is recently up $1.62 to $64.49. Pirate Capital, an activist hedge fund with an 8.5% stake in the company, has been encouraging Brink's to immediately unlock long-term shareholder value. Brink's has a market cap of $3.1 billion with long term debt of $144 million, and reported 2005 revenues of $2.5 billion. Brink's call option volume of 2,797 contracts compares to put volume of 724 contracts. The January option implied volatility of 33 is above its 26-week average of 28 according to Track Data, suggesting increasing price risks.
  

Option volume leaders today were General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Northfield Laboratories (NASDAQ:NFLD), Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and Apple Computer, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL).

Options analysis provided by Paul Foster, options strategist for Theflyonthewall.com.