Significant put selling in several names including WMT - sale of 15k Sep 50 puts, IRM, sale of 12k Sep 20 puts, WAG sale of 10k Sep 27 puts, GME sale of 15k Sep 17 puts. Neutral to bullish.
SPY looks as if one holder of the Sep 110 puts is taking some profits, and using a portion to roll down to the Sep 104/97 put spread. Bearish.
Medtronic (MDT) is
off $3.65 to $31.34 and implied volatility is higher after the medical device
maker posted strong earnings, but surprisingly weak revenues due to slowing
difibrillator sales. The company also slashed its outlook for full year earnings
and sales. Shares are reeling and options volume is 5X the average daily, with
16K calls and 11K puts traded so far. The top trade is a block of 3000 Jan 33
calls at $1.98 on ISE and likely a seller (tied to 135K shares at $31.87).
Beyond that, most of the action has been in smaller lots. Meanwhile, implied
volatility is not seeing the typical post-earnings crush. Instead, its up about
16.5 percent to 35.5. Fred Ruffy, Trade-Alert.
As expected with the market decline, VIX was higher, term structure and skew little changed. Long-dated implied volatility remains high, there are some rumblings that liquidity in the longer-dated OTC has been curtailed (i.e. banks are reducing their risk/exposure or willingness to commit), thus no sellers. It was discussed earlier this year, late April/early May that some market participant(s) were stung being short Vega.
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