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Technology Stocks : 3Com Corporation (COMS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: matt fahy who wrote (21384)	9/10/1998 8:44:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

U.S. OPTIONS/VIX soars, rumors lift 3Com, others Reuters Story - September 10, 1998 19:50 %US %STX %DRV %MRG %.N/OPT COMS ASND INTC BBC CQ PSSI .VIX .OEX V%REUTER P%RTR CHICAGO, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Implied volatility on stock index and most equity options surged on Thursday as the market suffered another big spill, but a handful of stock options saw their volatility levels sprint ahead amid takeover rumors, traders said. Among them were 3Com Corp. and Ascend Communications , which were rumored to be possible targets of Intel Corp. . Separately, Bergen Brunswig , Comsat Corp. and PSS World Medical Inc. were also at the center of takeover speculation. "Vols are up in all of those (stock options), but it's really tough to measure now because there's a lot of anxiety about the whole market," said Paul Foster, investment strategist and editor of 1010WallStreet.com. The Market Volatility Index , which measures implied volatility of several strikes on S&P 100 options and is a good gauge of fear in the market, spiked up 8.37 points to 47.36, just off the August 31 closing high at 48.33. The OEX stumbled 13.66 points to 478.82, erasing almost all of what it gained on Tuesday. Worries about President Bill Clinton's political fate, on top of turmoil in emerging markets and the impact of depressed world economies on U.S. corporate earnings, are likely to keep the market under pressure for the foreseeable future, traders said. Investors were looking to Friday when the House of Representatives was expected to release large parts of U.S. special prosecutor Kenneth Starr's report on the Internet. "This is terrifying," said Jay Shartsis, director of options trading at R.F. Lafferty & Co. "The rest of the world looks to the U.S. for stability and we're facing the possibility of an impeachment." He said heavy index put buying and the fact that the stock market comfortably held above the September 1 "panic lows" suggested that selling may have been exhausted for now. OEX put volume broadly outpaced call volume 92,404 to 65,739 on the Chicago Board Options Exchange. Elsewhere, traders said implied volatility on September at-the-money options on 3Com and Ascend climbed as high as 90 percent and 85 percent, respectively. Volatility on nearby options on Bergen advanced to about 67 percent, while volatility on options on Comsat and PSS rose to roughly 170 percent and 115 percent, they said. Comsat, Ascend and Intel declined to comment on the rumors, citing company policy. A spokesman for PSS World said he was aware of the rumor and noted there had been a report by a sell side analyst mentioning the rumor, but declined to comment. No one was immediately available to comment at 3Com and Bergen.