China Fund Sees Brisk Two-Way Action

Today’s tickers: FXI, KRE, WFC, FDX, JWN, HUM, ALL & MSFT FXI – The Chinese ETF is higher by less than 1% to stand at $37.35, but we noticed a number of investors getting long of protective put options in the July contract. It appears that approximately 50,000 puts were purchased at the July 34 strike price for an average premium of 1.25 per contract. Due to the large size of the trade, it is likely that the investor was either already long shares of the underlying or perhaps bought shares of the stock today. The puts provide downside protection beginning at any share price below the breakeven point at $32.75. Additional put buying was observed at the nearly at-the-money July 37 strike price where about 5,000 puts were picked up for 2.53 each. Later this afternoon a large straddle has been sold at the July 38 series involving 15,000 calls and puts on each side for a combined premium of 4.35. The investor doesn’t want shares to stray above a share price of $42.35 or fall beneath $33.65 ahead of expiration. – iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index Fund KRE – The regional banking fund has declined less than 1% to $18.97. The KRE ticker symbol leapt onto our ‘most active by options volume’ market scanner after a burst of activity in the July contract. One investor took profits today by selling to close a long put position. He originally purchased 30,000 puts at the July 22.5 strike price for 3.30 apiece back on June 2, 2009. Today He sold all 30,000 lots for 4.10 per contract. The profit on the trade amounts to 80 cents or $2,400,000. Hoping to see similar gains in the future, the same individual appears to have enacted a repeat performance by purchasing another 30,000 puts at the lower July 20 strike price for an average premium of 2.15 each. The trader will once again pocket profits if he can manage to sell to close at a price higher than the premium paid today. – SPDR KBW Regional Banking ETF WFC – Shares of the large TARP-recipient bank have slipped more than 3% today to $23.67 amid Standard & Poor’s revision of WFC’s counterparty credit rating down to AA-/A-1+. The outlook from S&P Ratings Services is reportedly negative and options activity on the stock today suggests some investors expect continued bearish movement on the stock through expiration in July. A massive put…