All three major U.S. indexes closed higher on Thursday with the S&P 500 ending the day at a record 7798.99. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.1%, and the Nasdaq was up 0.8% thanks to strong gains from SanDisk (SNDK) and other chip stocks. Heading into Friday trading, futures pre-market were up slightly as investors focus on two pieces of news.
Analysts Keep Hiking Micron's Revenue and Price Forecasts - Shorting MU Puts Works Here Married Puts: The FOMO-Proof Way to Play OVV, ONON, and FCX's Unusually Active Options Ugly STMicroelectronics Stock May Have Just Signaled a Turnaround Get exclusive insights with the FREE Barchart Brief newsletter. Subscribe now for quick, incisive midday market analysis you won't find anywhere else. Retail Sales data comes out.
They're expected to increase by 0.1% in July, slightly slower than the 0.2% gain in June. Core Retail Sales, which excludes motor vehicles and parts, will also be released. The second important data point out today is the University of Michigan's U.S.
Consumer Sentiment Index. Economists expect the preliminary figure to be 54.4, down from 55.2 in July. While not as low as May's 74-year record of 44.8, it's still well below 71.7, the figure when President Trump took office in January 2025.
In the options markets, volume was 61.26 million, about 2.6 million below the 90-day average. Calls outnumbered puts by a 60/40 margin, with single-leg trades accounting for 54% of the action, and institutions and professional traders making 60% of those trades. Yesterday's unusual options activity was very tame.
No options expiring in six days or more had Vol/OI (volume-to-open-interest) ratios over 100. Even if you include options expiring in less than six days, only the Him & Hers Health (HIMS) $29.50 call expiring today was over 100, at 103.30. That's made my job finding an interesting stock or options strategy for today's unusual options activity commentary much more difficult.
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