General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings tomorrow morning. GM stock has a mixed history of post-earnings price action, but options traders are lining up on the bullish side of the fence ahead of the results, with nearly 67,000 calls traded so far today -- two times what's typically seen, and volume pacing in the 94th annual percentile.The March 50 call is mos...Read More

The 20 stocks listed in the table below have attracted the highest total options volume during the past 10 days. Stocks highlighted in yellow are new entries to the list, and data is courtesy of Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White. Two names that stand out this time around are GPU giant NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) and automaker Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F). We'll break down som...Read More

The shares of Dick's Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE:DKS) are suffering today, after Barclays downgraded the stock to "underweight" from "equal weight." The analyst said Dick's "is not positioned to sell the stylish athleisure product that the industry has evolved into," and pointed to accelerating competitive pressure for the bearish note, which included a price-target cut to $25 from $33. However, whil...Read More

Dow component Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is slated to report earnings after the close tomorrow, Feb. 6. Perhaps due to DIS stock's upbeat earnings reaction last quarter, options traders have been loading up on calls ahead of the event. Below, we'll take a closer look at Disney shares, and see how speculators have been positioning themselves ahead of earnings.On the charts, the security is up n...Read More

U.S. stocks are extending theirworst sell-off in years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) istrading in the red, down triple digits, despite blue-chip Apple's (AAPL) attempt to climb out of correction territory. While the Dow is off its session lows, energy stocks are keeping up the pressure, and financial stocks are following Wells Fargo (WFC) lower. The S&P 500 Index (SPX) is also lower at...Read More

Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) is trading down a modest 0.2% today at $31.90, despite sharp losses for fellow financial stock Wells Fargo (WFC). Plus, the shares are holding near their nine-year peak of $32.67 -- hit during last Friday's broad-market bloodbath -- and are up 37% on a year-over-year basis. And if history is any guide, BAC stock could be headed for even higher highs in the near term...Read More

Apple (AAPL) supplier Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) is in focus today after the semiconductor concern raised its bid to buy Qualcomm (QCOM) to $121 billion, or $82 per share. The cash-and-stock deal -- which includes a $10 billion termination fee, according to CNBC -- represents Broadcom's "best and final offer." While QCOM is trading down 2.6% today, AVGO shares were last seen trading up 1.6% at $2...Read More

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) is trading up 1.4% today at $64.33, after the company posted better-than-expected earnings and said its blockbuster lung cancer treatment Opdivo -- in combination with its immunotherapy drug Yervoy -- met its goals in a late-stage study. Meanwhile, the news is pressuring shares of rival Merck (MRK), which makes a competing product. Despite these positive developm...Read More

Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) stock is sinking this morning, down 8.2% to trade at $59.01, after the Federal Reserve on Friday took action over the big bank's fake account scandal, discovered in 2016. Under outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen -- who will be replaced today by Jerome Powell -- the central bank cited "widespread consumer abuses," and restricted WFC from any additional asset growth until it...Read More

Stock futures are signaling an extended sell-off after Friday's historic pullback. Specifically, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is pacing for a more than 200-point drop at the open, while the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) are set for sharp slides, as well. As such, volatility will likely remain in focus, as the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) comes off its highest close since...Read More

"Another headline that took me back to the mid-1990s was the one describing the longest overbought streak in 21 years. On Friday, the SPX's 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) was above 70 for the 17th straight day. According to the Bloomberg article, the last time the index had an 'overbought' streak like this was 18 days in November-December 1996...This overbought streak may be worth watching i...Read More

The U.S. stock market suffered a major pullback today, as this morning's nonfarm payrolls report, which topped expectations, suggested another rate hike is on the way when the Fed meets next month -- though San Francisco Fed President John Williams said the central bank shouldn't have a "knee-jerk reaction" to strong economic data. Nevertheless, the Dow shed more than 650 points -- as Apple (AAPL)...Read More

After reporting a fourth-quarter earnings beatlast Monday night, online streaming service Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) gapped higher, and hit a new record high of $286.81 one week later. But while the stock has since pared some post-earnings gains amid widespread selling pressure, data provided by Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White suggests outperforming NFLX might still be the be...Read More

U.S. stocks are sharply lower this afternoon, as the major equity indexes appear on track for their worst weekly losses in two years. Among the stocks making notable moves today are tech stock Impinj Inc (NASDAQ:PI), drug stock Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX), and GoPro (GPRO) supplier Ambarella Inc (NASDAQ:AMBA). Here's a closer look at what's moving shares of PI, VKTX, and AMBA today.Weak Ou...Read More

After settling last week at record highs -- sending up a sobering sentiment signal in the latest Investors Intelligence (II) survey -- the U.S. stock market pulled back as reports that Apple halved its iPhone X production target weighed, and news of a high-profile healthcare initiative sent pharmacy stocks and health insurers spiraling. While Boeing earnings provided a brief respite from the selli...Read More

It's sharping up to be a miserable week for the U.S. stock market, but that's done little to slow down shares of small-cap sporting goods stock Johnson Outdoors Inc. (NASDAQ:JOUT). At last check, JOUT was trading up 18.8% at $72.50, making it among the best Nasdaq stocks in today's session, thanks to the company's better-than-expected fiscal first-quarter sales. Revenue was clocked at $116.6 milli...Read More

MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) is one of the worst S&P 500 stocks to own in February, going back 10 years. Shares of the casino stock have shed 6.87% on average during the month over that time span, finishing positive just three times. Plus, the stock has been stung by negative earnings reactions, with MGM losing 9.3% and 8.3%, respectively, in the sessions immediately following the last two...Read More

Stocks are in a downward spiral, after this morning's nonfarm payrolls report strengthened the case for a March rate hike -- and sent the 10-year Treasury yield spiking to a four-year high. Looking closer, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) is staring at a more than 300-point loss, with blue-chip energy names Chevron (CVX) and Exxon Mobil (XOM) applying the most pressure after earnings. If th...Read More

Earnings season is here, ladies and gentlemen, and with it comes heightened volatility for many stocks as investors anticipate, and react to, quarterly reports. What can savvy traders do to capitalize on volatility spikes? Today, we will break down the long strangle options strategy, and how it can help investors profit from surging volatility without committing to a bullish or bearish bias.A long...Read More

It's been a rough ride for junk bonds since the European Central Bank (ECB) announced in late October its intent to taper bond purchases. That pain is evident in a daily chart of the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (NYSEARCA:HYG), which sliced cleanly through formerly solid support at its 200-day moving average in November.We see a potentially significant bearish tell from the action...Read More