Market Insights

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Stocks
Last week was calm as confidence grew

Last week was calm as confidence grew

Despite a lot of news, last week was the quietest of the year. The S&P 500 moved less than 30 points between its low and high, the narrowest range since Christmas. The index still managed to close slightly positive, its fourth straight weekly gain. The big...

Where options traders are mining for a rally

Where options traders are mining for a rally

Someone wants to turn iron into gold with options. Here's the large bullish trade detected yesterday in Cleveland-Cliffs (CLF): 25,000 August 8 calls bought for $1.29. 25,000 August 8 puts sold for $0.28. 25,000 June 7 calls sold for $1.96 as an existing position...

Fun and games on the rise: Midweek sector check

Fun and games on the rise: Midweek sector check

The S&P 500 is up fractionally on the week as investors target some newer areas of the market. Here's a breakdown of the best- and worst- performing industry groups at the half-way point: Winners: Media is the biggest gainer, led by 10 percent surges in...

Another cloud IPO screams higher

Another cloud IPO screams higher

Last week Zscaler (ZS) ripped to a new high on strong earnings. Today, it's Pivotal Software's (PVTL) turn. PVTL rose about 25 percent in morning trading to a new high after subscription revenue shot up 69 percent. Profit beat. Revenue beat. Guidance wowed. Never...

Twitter’s meteoric rise continues

Twitter’s meteoric rise continues

Twitter (TWTR) was added to the S&P 500 index last week, and the money keeps pouring in. The social-media stock traded within a few cents of $44 early this morning, the highest level in more than three years. It's thoroughly outperformed larger rival Facebook (FB)...

China’s challenge to Silicon Valley

China’s challenge to Silicon Valley

Chinese tech stocks warmed up this spring. Will they have an even hotter summer? Iqiyi (IQ), the "Netflix of China," is up more than 60 percent in the last month. Mobile-based social network Momo (MOMO) rose 38 percent and e-commerce service provider Baozun (BZUN) has...

Bulls stick with copper bigwig: Options recap

Bulls stick with copper bigwig: Options recap

Only a week ago, Freeport McMoRan (FCX) was the target of a large bullish options trade. Today the copper giant is seeing more of the same. Activity hit fast and furious in FCX's July 16 calls out of the gate this morning. Large blocks changed hands for $2.20 to...

Options traders see fireworks in beaten down tech stock

Options traders see fireworks in beaten down tech stock

Options traders seem to expect a hot summer from a forgotten tech stock. More than 19,000 July 29 calls traded in Juniper Networks (JNPR) on Friday. Buyers initially paid $0.56 and kept nibbling as the stock moved higher. Pretty soon they doubled to $1.15 and even...

Retail giving tech a run for its money

Retail giving tech a run for its money

After a violent rally in retail, can the consumer dethrone Tech? Five of the 10 best performing members of the S&P 500 this week are retailers or apparel names: Under Armour (UA) Kohl's (KSS) Macy's (M) Hanesbrands (HBI) Gap (GPS) ETFs tracking the space, like...