Must be a bull market Friday. Every stock in America is getting taken over this weekend. MOS with the weekly chatter. And this in Lorilard (LO). Lorillard (LO) is up $1.18 to $69.61 and hit session highs of $69.9 on takeover chatter Friday — Briefing. In the options market, 7,840 calls trad ... Read more

When last we checked, the big flows in VIX options were cheapo OTM call specs. Now? Well Jamie highlights a play on the other side. A Customer bought 25K August 25-22.5 put spreads for .55. Sounds absurdly cheap, right? I mean the VIX is now under 25. But alas, it's an August option, and Au ... Read more

In 20/20 Hindsight, I bet they beat the estimate, and CNBC misstates the numbers. Well, the first part was easy, I'll bet that 98% of companies whose earnings we actually watch will beat the pretend estimate. As to the latter? Well, didn't have The Bubble-ites on, but I hear they bungled the ... Read more

So I passed on Paulson to watch the Tour this morning and it turns out......the Podium Girls are not all French. They interviewed one from....gasp.....St. Louis. Sacre Bleu! There goes le mystique. Just to revisit the VIX point again, the fact that today may very well close lower does not * ... Read more

So we've written much about this disparity between August VIX futures and the VIX itself. But is there a way to "lock in" the inevitable convergence? Lawrence McMillan (who is actually one of the great ones in this business) recommends a play wherein you buy modestly ITM August VIX puts v ... Read more

You know what they say. When Bloomberg tries to analyze volatility, run the other way. Or something like that. This from yesterday. The VIX rose with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, a sign from the options market that the steepest three-day rally for stocks since June is poised ... Read more

So long as I posted this morning in regards to the disparity between options volatility and stock volatility I should not that....well, that disparity is now gone thanks to the large directional moves in the market this week and the VIX decline. Just to be clear, the data regarding that parti ... Read more

Fedex options volume running twice normal levels this morning with shares up 2% near 56.66 and premium buyers dominating the flow. Just after 10:30 a buyer paid 1.425 for 1000 August 60 calls, followed several minutes later buy a buyer of 1000 Oct 60 Puts for 6.80. ....If you are interested ... Read more

Well, despite a rather slow session yesterday, we have some very interesting developments in volatility land. This, from Jason Goepfert (who I hope doesn't mind that copied over his chart, please click thru). Options expert, and unofficial (though enthusiastic) VIX bikini spokesman Adam W ... ... Read more

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c Lenny Dykstra's Financial Career www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day Hey, guess who Jon Stewart featured in his middle segment last night? Yup, Mookie Wilson....and Lenny. And Cramer ... Read ... Read more