Today’s tickers: FXI, CDNS, UTX, GS, DGX, GDP & MRK
FXI – iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund – Shares of the FXI, an exchange-traded fund that seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index, which is an index consisting of 25 of the largest and most liquid Chinese companies, fell 1% during the trading day to stand at $41.88. The slight decline in the price of the underlying shares did not, however, deter one options investor from initiating a large bullish transaction in the August contract. It looks like the trader enacted a plain-vanilla debit call spread to position for a sharp rally in the fund’s share price by expiration. The investor purchased 10,000 calls at the August $45 strike for a premium of $1.38 each, and sold the same number of calls at the higher August $50 strike for $0.40 apiece. Net premium paid for the spread amounts to $0.98 per contract. Therefore, the bullish player stands ready to accrue maximum potential profits of $4.02 per contract in the event that shares of the FXI rally more than 19.3% to exceed $50.00 by expiration day in August. The trader starts making money if the China fund’s shares surpass the effective breakeven share price of $45.98 in the next several months to expiration.
CDNS – Cadence Design Systems, Inc. – Cadence Design Systems, a firm which licenses software, sells or leases hardware technology and provides engineering and education services, experienced a 1% rally in the value of its shares to $7.18 during the trading day. The increase in the price of the underlying shares enticed bullish investors to populate November contract options on the stock. It looks like one investor initiated a bullish stance on Cadence Design Systems by selling short 7,000 in-the-money put contracts at the November $7.5 strike for an average premium of $0.975 apiece. The put seller keeps the full amount of premium pocketed on the transaction if CDNS shares rally above $7.50 by expiration day in November. The trader is apparently happy to have shares of the underlying stock put to him at an effective price of $6.525 each should the put contracts remain in-the-money at expiration. Options implied volatility is down 10.1% to 36.15% as of 3:20 pm (ET). Cadence is slated to report its first-quarter results next week after the closing bell on April 28, 2010.
UTX – United Technologies…
