Today’s tickers: FXI, KRE, WFC, FDX, JWN, HUM, ALL & MSFT
FXI– The Chinese ETF is higher by less than 1% to stand at $37.35, but we noticed a number of investors getting long of protective put options in the July contract. It appears that approximately 50,000 puts were purchased at the July 34 strike price for an average premium of 1.25 per contract. Due to the large size of the trade, it is likely that the investor was either already long shares of the underlying or perhaps bought shares of the stock today. The puts provide downside protection beginning at any share price below the breakeven point at $32.75. Additional put buying was observed at the nearly at-the-money July 37 strike price where about 5,000 puts were picked up for 2.53 each. Later this afternoon a large straddle has been sold at the July 38 series involving 15,000 calls and puts on each side for a combined premium of 4.35. The investor doesn’t want shares to stray above a share price of $42.35 or fall beneath $33.65 ahead of expiration. – iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund
