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1630 ET 25June2009 Option bears line up for Brunswick puts
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Shares of Brunswick Corp (BC.N), the world's largest maker
of recreational boats and marine engines, rose 36 cents to
$4.38 and its option volume of 8,136 puts and 20 calls was 41
times the norm, according to Trade Alert. The activity was
focused in the January 2010 puts at the $2.50 strike, with more
than 8,000 lots traded and nearly all trading ask-side of the
bid-ask spread. Two blocks of 3,800 traded for 45 and 50 cents
and it looked like opening buyers with existing open interest
at 1,544, said WhatsTrading.com option strategist Frederic
Ruffy. Trade Alert shows Brunswick's open interest stood at
32,214 contracts as of June 24, consisting of 22,551 calls and
9,663 puts. Most of the open calls were in the out-of-the-money
January 2010 $15 and $20 strikes, positions created nearly a
year ago when shares were close to $10, said Trade Alert
president Henry Schwartz. Today's flow with buyers of the
January $2.50 puts suggests a significant change in sentiment
compared to call positions opened a year ago and concerns that
shares may revisit lows touched in early March when they
hovered above $2, Schwartz said.

Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
.

1543 ET 25June2009 RenaSola upside calls shine
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U.S.-listed shares of RenaSola Ltd (SOLA.L) (SOL.N) rose 10
cents to $5.79
and some investors expect shares of the Chinese solar company
to shine over the
next few weeks. The July $7.50 calls, which come off the board
three weeks from
Friday, are drawing interest in recent trades. It looked like
buyers paid
premiums of 25 and 30 cents apiece even as the shares sit
considerably below
the $7.50 strike, said WhatsTrading.com option strategist
Frederic Ruffy. The
shares hit a 52-week high of $21.10 set on June 24, 2008. The
strike's volume
has attracted 5,545 contracts against open interest of 12,899
lots, Reuters
data show. The stock's option implied volatility, a key driver
of an options
price, is elevated at 120 percent but was little changed
earlier in the
session. The company filed for a $100 million share offering
today.

Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
1525 ET 25June2009-Health insurers rally as deal on healthcare
bill nears
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Shares of healthcare insurers rallied on Thursday after
news that U.S.
senators moved closer to an agreement on a $1 trillion U.S.
healthcare
overhaul, down from earlier estimates of $1.6 trillion.

Among standouts:

- Cigna Corp (CI.N) up 5.4 pct at $25.

- Coventry Health Care (CVH.N) up 3.8 pct $19.04.

- Humana Inc (HUM.N) up 3.5 pct to $31.57.

- WellPoint Inc (WLP.N) up 2.5 pct to $50.55.

The Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor index .HMO climbed
3.2 pct.

For more details, see [ID:nN25273492]

Reuters Messaging: ellis.mnyandu.reuters.com@reuters.net
1437 ET 25June2009 Palm attracts some hedging before earnings,
analyst
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Palm Inc (PALM.O) shares rose 8 cents to $14.02 in the
afternoon session
ahead of its quarterly earnings report late on Thursday. In the
options arena,
Palm has a relatively high reading of implied volatility of 90
percent on
options on the stock. That makes hedging a little more
expensive than it ought
to be and one investor appeared to have tried to do so by
employing a put
spread using the August contract, said Andrew Wilkinson, market
analyst at
Interactive Brokers Group. The trade involved 5,000 puts at the
$12.50 strike
traded at a premium of $1.25 while another 5,000 contracts at
the $9 strike
traded at 32 cents. Wilkinson believes the same investor may
have used the
premium proceeds from the sale of the lower strike puts to help
defray the cost
of the $12.50 strike. So instead of paying a raw $1.25 premium
for protection
against a big share drop, the investor reduced his outlay to 93
cents, he said.
Potential profits from the spread are limited to $2.57 should
the shares reach
the lower strike at August expiration.

Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
1318 ET 25June2009-Force Protection option vols rise, calls
busy
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Shares of defense contractor Force Protection (FRPT.O)
jumped 8.42 percent
to $8.76 in afternoon trade. The stock's option implied
volatility, a barometer
of anxiety conveyed by option prices, rose and was at elevated
levels as the
company awaits a decision regarding an important U.S. military
contract, said
WhatsTrading.com option strategist Frederic Ruffy. "Force
Protection is up in
anticipation of good news and sentiment in the options market
is bullish as
well," he said. In all, 4,974 calls and 644 puts traded and
sentiment based on
order flow was 52 percent bullish, according to Trade Alert.
Implied volatility
stood at 133 percent from 130 percent on Wednesday and about 80
percent one
month ago, Ruffy said.

Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net
1252 ET 25June2009-Department stores up after JC Penney upgrade
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Shares of department stores rose on Thursday, after
JPMorgan upgraded JC
Penney (JCP.N) to overweight from neutral.

The firm wrote that the retailer would benefit from lower
apparel input
costs, stabilization in the high-margin home category sales,
and strong
performance by its women's apparel business. For details see
[ID:nBNG489288]

JC Penney was up 6.4 percent to $28.30 while the S&P
Department Stores
Sub-Industry Index .GSPRETD added 3.4 percent to 116.39.

Among other companies in the index, Nordstrom (JWN.N) rose
2.9 percent to
$19.64, Macy's (M.N) climbed 3.3 percent to $11.76, Sears
Holding (SHLD.O) was
up 2.8 percent to $65.36 and Kohl's (KSS.N) gained 2.3 percent
to $44.43.

Reuters Messaging: ryan.vlastelica.reuters.com@reuters.net
1231 ET 25June2009-VIX tests lower end of range, support
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The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, the implied volatility
measure of the S&P
500 index .SPX, fell 6.78 percent to $27.08 as U.S. stocks
extend gains. The
VIX is challenging the June 11 lows of 26.81 on an intraday
basis as well as
the lower Bollinger band line of 26.91, said Scott Fullman,
director of
derivative investment strategy at WJB Capital Group. "We are at
the lower end
of a two standard deviation move of the 20-day moving average
which has acted
an oversold signal for VIX over the past two months."

Technically, this could potentially lead to an upward
reversal and a test
of the 29.65 level in the near term, he added. Volatility
expectations continue
to decline as realized volatility for the SPX remains
relatively tame, said
Chris McKhann, analyst at optionMonster.com in comments on the
firm's Web site.
The drop in the VIX is bringing it closer to the historical
volatility for the
SPX which is down at 21 percent, he said. The two are
"intimately tied, as
traders can sell higher volatility and will profit if the
realized volatility
is lower when the trade is down, McKhann said.

Reuters Messaging: doris.frankel.reuters.com@reuters.net