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Technology Stocks : NEXTEL -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark McLeod who wrote (6133)	5/13/1998 11:47:00 PM
From: PHG	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10227

Mark: I have a feeling something is up. But I'm not certain what this means. Wednesday May 13, 9:09 pm Eastern Time U.S. OPTIONS/Motorola vols up as buyout rumors fly CHICAGO, May 13 (Reuters) - Implied volatility in Motorola Inc. (MOT - news) options rose Wednesday as two names surfaced in the market as possible suitors of the U.S. technology giant. A spokeswoman for one of the rumored suitors, Siemens AG (SIEG.F), said Siemens was not interested in acquiring Motorola. Alcatel Alsthom (CGEP.PA) (ALA - news), the other company that was rumored to be sizing up Motorola for an acquisition, declined to comment on the speculation. But volatility climbed and volume in the options continued to swell, especially on the call side, analysts said. Implied volatility for May at-the-money options on Motorola stood at around 40 percent, compared with a normal 31 percent, said Hank Nothnagel, senior vice president of options trading at Everen Securities. Volatility upticked 3 percentage points today alone on the rumors this morning, said Andrew Schwarz, senior partner for AGS Specialist Partners at the American Stock Exchange. ''There was and there still is demand for the call options coming from the retail side,'' Schwarz said of trading in Motorola options. The May 60 calls were the most active, with volume of more than 9,800 contracts at 1345 EDT, followed by the June 60 calls at 6,100, the July 60 calls at 2,300 and the July 65 calls at 2,000. Options analysts cited no fresh rumors behind the activity. The stock jumped 3 to 58-15/16. Though Motorola options tend to be active, today's heavy volume is unusual, said Jay Shartsis, director of options trading at R.F. Lafferty & Co. Before today, Motorola stock had been trading right around where it was at the time of the broader U.S. market's October 27 correction, Shartsis noted. ''You'd never know the market had recovered by this stock,'' he said. ''It's been a real underperformer.'' ..........................Phil..................