Today’s tickers: XHB, XLB, APWR, FXI, S, EEM, XLU, UAUA & ACOR

XHB– Shares of the homebuilders fund have dropped 4% today to stand at $11.65. We observed one near-term bear pawing at put options on the ETF in the June and July contracts. The trader took profits on one chunk of put options by selling to close out a long position. It appears that he originally purchased 10,000 puts at the June 12 strike price for an average premium of 20 cents apiece. Today he sold the same 10,000 put options which are currently in-the-money for 40 cents per contract. The investor makes a nice 20 cent per contract gain on the trade, which he may have applied toward the purchase of 10,000 puts at the more bearish July 11 strike price at a cost of 45 cents apiece. The underlying shares of XHB would need to fall another 9% through the breakeven point at $10.55 in order for the trader to amass profits on the new long put position. – SPDR Homebuilders ETF

XLB – The Materials ETF has experienced a share price decline of approximately 3.5% to $27.01. The XLB ticker symbol jumped onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after a massive chunk of 50,000 calls were traded in the near-term June contract. The 50,000 calls traded to the middle of the market at the June 28 strike price for a premium of 15 cents apiece. We noted the presence of some 59,000 lots of open interest at the June 28 strike price. Upon further investigation, it appears that back on May 20, 2009, 50,000 calls were purchased for 90 cents per contract. If today’s trade represents the closing sale of the same 50,000 calls by the same investor, he has realized a net loss of 75 cents per contract or $3,750,000 in total. – Materials Select Sector SPDR

APWR – The Chinese power generation systems manufacturer appeared on our ‘hot by options volume’ market scanner amid a more than 4% decrease in its share price to $12.35. One investor hoping to benefit from limited bearish movement in the stock populated the September contract today. It appears that the trader sold a strangle in order to fund the purchase of in-the-money put options. The strangle was established through the sale of 3,000 puts at the September 10 strike price for 1.26 apiece in combination with the sale of 3,000…
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