I would bet that the EP leaving rumor started in the options pits. There's over 25,000 Jan 60 calls due to expire worthless in two days, and a similar # of Jan 65 calls which will be expiring worthless. Call writers always have more capital, and I believe that, while it is not a conspiracy, the Intel weakness was seized upon and CPQ was "helped" back down before any calls got into the money. CPQ came dangerously close to hitting sixty today, but I don't believe that the call writers will allow it to go over 60 in the next two days. All CPQ 60 & 65 calls will expire worthless, IMO.
I took a hit on the INTC head-fake (as it dragged down CPQ), because I thought the good numbers from INTC would help Semis and PC stocks. It was a near thing for the call writers, but there is two more days to contend with - they won the round for today, so they have the mo. If nothing else, they can always put another rumor bug in Maria Bartiroma's hear -- she'll run with it.
DK |
