The Dow is higher after a morning in the red
Stocks have spiked higher at midday, overcoming their morning losses to trade in positive territory after the White House confirmed it believes China is ready to make a trade deal. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI), S&P 500 Index (SPX), and Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) all suddenly sport solid leads, the recently noisy Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) has turned red. Meanwhile, oil prices are also notably higher after domestic crude inventories fell more than expected, sending June crude futures up 1.2% to $62.15 per barrel.
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One name seeing unusual options trading today is Party City (NYSE:PRTY), with earnings due out before the open tomorrow. A trade of 9,900 October 10 calls crossed earlier for 50 cents each, and data points to buy-to-open activity. These calls will gain in value as PRTY stock, last quoted at $7.37 thanks to a 4.6% rise today, approaches $10. However, the trade could be from a short seller hedging their position, since 15.7 million shares are sold short, almost 10 times the average daily trading volume.
One of the best stocks on the Nasdaq today is Scientific Games Corp (NASDAQ:SGMS). The shares are trading up 21.1% at $22.86, but this still leaves them below the 200-day moving average and down almost 56% year-over-year. The casino technology company posted strong sales for the first quarter, and said the initial public offering (IPO) for its subsidiary SciPlay Corp (SCPL) brought in $301 million that'll help it pay down debt.
TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) is one of the worst Nasdaq stocks today, down 12.7% at $47.96 following a bad revenue miss for the first quarter. The sell-off puts TRIP sharply below long-time support at the 320-day moving average, and could be painful for many options traders, since the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 0.24 ranks in the 2nd annual percentile -- revealing a dramatic call-skew among near-term options traders.