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Strategies & Market Trends : Tech Stock Options -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ViperChick Secret Agent 006.9 who wrote (51577)	9/4/1998 8:01:00 PM
From: ViperChick Secret Agent 006.9	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 58727

+MythMan (5228 ) From: +tippet Friday, Sep 4 1998 5:46PM ET Reply # of 5244 See the bold sentence below -- yes it does make me suspicious! US stock index futures cut losses late, end lower CHICAGO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slashed steep losses late to end moderately lower ahead of the long U.S. Labor Day holiday weekend. September Standard & Poor's 500 futures fell to 955, then whipped around in active trade on strong dealer buying and positioning for the weekend to settle off 9.50 points at 976. ''My feeling is that this market is just sold out,'' said Richard Scarlata, editor of the Sutton Daily Advisory Letter. ''It was a fairly strong close after being down so far.'' Traders said they were worn out as well after the very high volume and choppy dealings that drove the market all week. ''Every day has been a long week so far,'' one trader observed. Scarlata said stocks gave way early on more concerns about international issues involving Russia, Japan and Latin America and the possible impact on U.S. corporations. Those concerns should soon subside in favor of an emphasis on strong U.S. fundamentals, Scarlata said. Also, the slump toward 7,400 in the Dow Industrials and 955 in September S&Ps, with the subsequent rebound, confirmed a bottom. Stocks should begin to retrace losses next week with a minimum expectation of 50 percent, or 1,067 in September S&Ps and 1,079 in December S&Ps, Scarlata said. December becomes lead S&P month on Thursday and the contract is not likely to find much resistance until about 1,110, Scarlata said. Enormous amounts of cash sitting in money market funds will likely return to the marketplace, adding more fuel to the move, Scarlata said. ''People were expecting a late September or October correction and we got a July-August correction'' Scarlata said. Traders said falling banking and technology stocks led to the sharp drop late with one aggressive September S&P seller in otherwise thin conditions. ----------------- +thebeach (19973 ) From: +Narotham Reddy Friday, Sep 4 1998 7:53PM ET Reply # of 19974 Greenspan talks Greenspan: U.S. not an 'oasis' Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Friday the U.S. economy could not escape the effects of international market turmoil and that central bank policymakers were keeping a close watch on developments. He also said it is not credible to believe the United States can remain an oasis of prosperity unaffected by a world that is experiencing greatly increased stress --------------- CHICAGO, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Implied volatility on S&P 100 held firm on Friday ahead of the long holiday weekend after an early rally in the stock market fizzled. The OEX, having climbed as high as 486.17 in the early going, settled down 3.89 points at 477.44. Weakness was led by the bank sector, which was hit after recent downgrades of Latin American debt. The Market Volatility Index , which measures implied volatility of several strikes on OEX options and is used by some as a measure of nervousness in the market, rose 0.68 point to 44.61. ''There's still a lot of uncertainty going into this weekend and that's what the VIX is telling you,'' said one options trader. ''The factors influencing the stock market right now are coming from outside the U.S.'' He noted that the heavy put buying seen all week continued unabated. By 1500 CDT/2000 GMT, 15 minutes before the close, put volume exceeded call volume 77,499 to 68,003 on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The rise in implied volatility was most pronounced in options on money center banks and brokerages, traders said. Dealings in options on shares Citicorp (NYSE:CCI - news), Chase Manhattan (NYSE:CMB - news) and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (NYSE:MWD - news) were relatively heavy amid worries that the turmoil in emerging markets would take a big toll on earnings. ''People are just getting out. They want cash. It's a matter of liquidity, and they don't want to wake up on Saturday morning thinking about how much money they had three months ago,'' an options analyst said. Options on B.J. Services Co. (NYSE:BJS - news) drew speculative interest on talk that the oil group would soon receive a takeover bid, traders said. Implied volatility for the September 17-1/2 options rose into the 80 percent level, up from 67 percent on Thursday and 54 percent a month ago. No one at the company was immediately available to comment on the rumors. The stock ended up 1-7/8 at 17-5/16.