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Biotech / Medical : PFE (Pfizer) How high will it go? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Logain Ablar who wrote (6677)	1/12/1999 4:20:00 PM
From: BigKNY3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9523

Adding to the volatility BigKNY3 Speculation and Volatility in Options Increase Amid Bets on Takeover Rumor, Intel Earnings ---- By Steven M. Sears Dow Jones Newswires NEW YORK -- Takeover and earnings speculators, momentum traders and buywriters used their skills in the options market to build positions that would benefit from a rumored merger in the networking sector, Intel Corp.'s earnings report, and the continued price increase of three Big Board stocks. Highflying Internet options, such as Amazon.com Inc., America Online Inc. and Yahoo! Inc., remained favorites. Defensive index put options that are used to protect portfolios against stockmarket declines also traded strongly as the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded lower. The index put/call ratio showed that 146 puts traded for every 100 calls. The option market's fear gauge, the Chicago Board Options Exchange's Market Volatility Index, or VIX, gained 2.5, or 10%, to 26.38. Elsewhere in the options market: Ascend Communications Inc.'s calls, particularly the January 80, traded strongly on a report in the Financial Times that Lucent Technologies Inc. is negotiating to acquire Ascend. These bullish calls give investors the right to buy the stock at a specific price and time. Both companies declined to comment, but floor traders at the American Stock Exchange and CBOE said traders scrambled to buy Ascend calls at almost any price. Intel was shrouded in "rampant speculation," in the words of one floor trader, as many people took positions before the chip maker reports fourth-quarter earnings today. The January 140 calls were the most desired contracts, gaining 3 3/4 to 4 3/8 on volume of 13,303 contracts, compared with open interest of 5,681 contracts. With January options set to expire Friday, institutions rolled up large call positions in Pfizer Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and Tyco International Inc. The trades were part of a buy-writing program that entailed selling calls and buying stock, a trader said. The firms bought back their short calls and sold calls at higher strike prices to avoid losing their stock, he said