XLE - Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF – Signs of bullish sentiment on the XLE, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the Energy Select Sector of the S&P 500 Index, appeared in the April contract this morning with shares in the fund rising 2.6% to $75.67 by 11:15am in New York. According to a report out from Bloomberg reporter Arie Shapira, analysts at Goldman recommended buying call options on certain energy stocks, many of which are holdings in the XLE. Like-minded traders looked to Energy SPDR options today to position for a sector rally. A couple of call spreads were purchased on the ETF earlier in the session. The use of this strategy reduces the premium required to get long the closer to-the-money strike calls as opposed to buying the contracts outright. It looks like traders picked up a total of 10,000 calls at the April $79 strike for an average premium of $0.76 each, and sold the same number of calls at the April $82 strike at an average premium of $0.205 apiece. The average net cost of initiating the bullish stance amounts to $0.555 per contract. Thus, call-spreaders stand prepared to profit should the price of the underlying fund surge 5.1% to surpass the average breakeven price of $79.555 by April expiration. Investors could walk away with maximum potential profits of $2.445 per contract if shares in the XLE jump 8.4% over the current price of $75.67 to trade above $82.00 by expiration day next month. Shares in the fund last traded above $82.00 back in July 2008.
MHS - Medco Health Solutions, Inc. – The pharmacy-benefits management company drew heavy options trading volume today with its shares declining as much as 6.3% today to touch an intraday low of…
