Today’s tickers: WDC, XLF, EEM, RRI, MYL, XHB, ROK, IACI, & XME

WDC – The manufacturer of hard disk drives has enjoyed a 3% rally today to stand at $31.31. Near-term bullish bets were initiated by option traders expecting further gains in the stock. It appears that some investors established call spreads on WDC by purchasing 14,000 calls at the now in-the-money August 31 strike price for an average premium of 1.77 each, and simultaneously selling 14,000 calls at the higher August 35 strike for about 37 cents per contract. The net cost of the spreads amount to approximately 1.40 apiece. Call-spreaders will begin to realize profits on today’s transaction if WDC can climb 3.5% higher to the breakeven point at $32.40. Maximum profits of 2.60 would be attained by investors if the stock increases to $35.00 by expiration. Finally, plain-vanilla call buying was observed at the August 32 strike where some 3,200 calls were coveted for an average premium of 1.12 per contract. We note that the volume of more than 45,433 contracts seen on WDC today represents 45% of the total existing open interest on the stock of 101,598 lots. – Western Digital Corp.

XLF – The financials ETF has climbed 1.5% higher to $12.61. Notable bullish action was observed at the December 13 strike price this afternoon where it seems some 35,000 calls were purchased for an average premium of 93 cents per contract. Shares of the XLF would need to rally 10% higher and surpass the breakeven point at $13.93 in order for traders to begin to amass profits by expiration at the conclusion of 2009. – Financial Select Sector SPDR

EEM – A mess of deep in-the-money put purchases were initiated on the emerging markets fund today amid a 0.5% increase in the price of the underlying shares to $35.60. The greatest volume was seen at the March 2010 38 strike price where about 7,400 puts were picked up for 5.70 apiece. The March 40 strike appears to have had 2,700 puts purchased for 7.00 each while the higher March 41 strike had 1,200 puts bought for 7.71 per contract. Put-buying continued at the March 42 strike price with 1,600 lots lifted for a premium 8.46 each. The higher March 43 strike had 2,300 puts purchased for 9.22 apiece while the March 44 strike had 1,000 puts coveted for a whopping 10.01 per contract. – iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index

RRI – Shares of the…
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