Today’s tickers: XLF, LIZ, MRK & PSS
XLF – Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF – The financials ETF popped Thursday morning on news Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway bought $5 billion worth of cumulative perpetual preferred stock in beleaguered U.S. lender, Bank of America Corp. The XLF’s morning rally gave way to losses in early-afternoon trade as heavy selling in Germany and soaring yields on Euro-area sovereign debt reminded markets that the crisis overseas may worsen. Shares in the XLF stand 0.50% lower on the session at $12.64, erasing earlier gains of as much as 4.95% to $13.33. Nearly 430,000 option contracts have changed hands on the Financial SPDR, with traders favoring puts over calls roughly 1.8 times to 1. Much of the heavy options volume resides in contracts expiring in the next few months, but longer-dated contracts attracted sizable interest, as well. Fresh positioning in the March 2012 $13 strike call and put options suggests some strategists expect shares in the fund to stagnate. Traders appear to have sold roughly 20,000 of the March 2012 $13 strike straddle to pocket average gross premium of $2.98 per contract. Straddle-sellers may be taking advantage of inflated levels of options implied volatility on the fund, which currently stands well above historical, as well as the time-rich premium built into the price of both the calls and the puts. Investors selling the straddle benefit from the roughly .07 of a penny daily decline in the value of the position, according to the roughly -.0035 reading of Theta on both the calls and the puts. Additionally, subsiding levels of implied volatility may lower the cost of buying back the straddle at some point ahead of expiration. In seven months time, when March expiration rolls around, traders walk away with the full amount of premium received on the straddle as long as shares in the XLF settle at $13.00.…
