NUE closed $39.38 yesterday, with vol on the rise. <img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hMry1m7UF10/TIeRHc_47hI/AAAAAAAAEms/3mmZzZo-Nfs/s1600/nue_summary.gif"> Nucor Corporation (Nucor) along with its affiliates is engaged in the business of manufacturing of steel and steel products, with operating facilities and customers primarily located in North America. The company traded over 24,000 options yesterday on total daily average option volume of just 6,244. The action was focused in the Oct 40 calls, where more than 12,000 traded; substantially purchases. The Stats Tab and Day's biggest trades snapshots are included (<a href="http://livevol.blogspot.com/2010/09/nue.html">in the article</a>). The Options Tab (<a href="http://livevol.blogspot.com/2010/09/nue.html">in the article</a>) illustrates that the calls are mostly opening (compare OI to trade size). Note that Oct vol is higher than both Sep and Jan'11. The Skew Tab snap (<a href="http://livevol.blogspot.com/2010/09/nue.html">in the article</a>) illustrates the vols by strike by month. <img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hMry1m7UF10/TIeRI6eE6cI/AAAAAAAAEnM/qOGyiVNjM4A/s1600/nue_skew_9-7-2010.gif"> We can see how the Sep upside is bid, bending upwards to the buying interest in Oct. The Oct options are yet to react substantially. Finally, the Charts Tab (6 months) is below (<a href="http://livevol.blogspot.com/2010/09/nue.html">in the article</a>). The top portion is the stock price, the bottom is the vol (IV30™ - red vs HV20™ - blue). The yellow shaded area at the very bottom is the IV30™ vs. the HV20™ vol difference. We can see the stock has been on the rise in the near term, going from $36 up to over $38 in the last two weeks. Also note that IV30™ has spiked past HV20™ as of yesterday. Check out the green colored volume bar at the bottom. This indicates customer opening order call purchases This buying interest pushed vol up. <b>Trades to Analyze</b> This is an infrastructure stock, with bullish action. Though Oct vol is the highest, it's the upside in Sep that's really high. A small calendar is interesting. Maybe Sep/Oct 41 or 42 call spread, selling Sep. Really anything that sells that little kink in the skew and covers with lower vol is a candidate for further analysis. I think this trade is only interesting if there is at least a two point vol difference in the spread. This is trade analysis, not a recommendation. Details, trades, prices, vols, skews, charts here: http://livevol.blogspot.com/2010/09/nue.html Legal Stuff: <a href="http://www.livevolpro.com/help/disclaimer_legal.html">http://www.livevolpro.com/help/disclaimer_legal.html</a>
Jeff Kearns from Bloomberg just sent me this headline (By Arie Shapira): High-beta steel stocks [...] may rally near term on reports of China steel capacity cuts.