Today's Options Market Update

Stocks Muted as Yields Dominate Wall Street's Attention

October 1, 2026 Nathan Peterson

Stocks are slightly lower around midday as elevated bond yields continue to keep a lid on investors' appetite for risk assets.

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October begins with the 10-year Treasury note yield just under 24-year highs and investors digesting solid earnings from chip giant Micron (MU). Major indexes climbed early, led by tech, despite another bump in crude.

September nonfarm payrolls arrive at 8:30 a.m. ET tomorrow with consensus at 84,000, down 50% from August but above the three-month average. The looming report could mean unremarkable trading today outside of tech names. Better-than-expected ADP job growth and GDP point to a healthy economy. Wages, he added, are an important jobs report metric after recent data hinted at a tight labor market.

Major indexes ended mostly lower yesterday. An early rally fizzled while longer-term yields continued their relentless rise even as rate hike odds declined. At 10 a.m. ET today, investors get the September ISM Manufacturing PMI®, seen at 55.2%, up from August and above the 50% needed for expansion. Solid S&P Global manufacturing data last week sparked inflation fears. Fresh data before the open included a surprise drop in the Challenger job cuts report to approximately 43,000 in September, down 20% from a year ago and more evidence of economic vigor.

Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research

Morning Rush

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield (TNX) is essentially unchanged at 5.296%.

The U.S. Dollar Index ($DXY) is higher by 0.44 at 101.89.

WTI Crude Oil (/CL) November futures are higher by 2.03% to $92.26/barrel.

Gold prices have traded in a range of $4,169.40-4,222.80 and were last seen trading higher by ~0.11% to $4,191.30/oz.

Natural Gas prices for September futures have traded in a range of $2.948-3.021 today and were last seen trading lower by 1.55% to $2.979.

Bitcoin (BTC) is higher by ~0.57% over the last 24 hours to $84,030.13 today.

Today's Bullish Activity

Shares of Accenture PLC (ACN + $39.31 to $222.68) are gapping up above the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) this morning after the IT consulting firm reported fiscal Q4 EPS of $3.29 ($0.11 beat) on Q4 sales that increased 6.25% year-over-year (YoY) to $18.70B (above the $18.03B expected). Looking ahead, the company said that Q1 sales are expected to come in a range of $18.95-19.60B (vs. the $19.357B consensus estimate) and fiscal-year 2027 (FY27) EPS expected to come in a range of $14.39-14.81 (vs. the $14.62 consensus estimate) on FY27 sales that are expected to come in a range of $76.426-78.652B (above the $76.414B expected). Calls are outnumbering puts better than 3:2 with the October 2^nd230.00 call seeing the most action from traders (volume is 4,439).

Also trading to the upside this morning is Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY + $1.70 to $57.02) after Goldman Sachs upgraded the oil and gas producer to "Buy" from "Neutral" and bumped their price target on the stock to $69.00 from $63.00. Goldman Sachs analyst Neil Mehta said the company has a strong outlook for debt reduction and dividend growth potential and believes the stock is at an attractive risk/reward level given it's "discounted valuation at current levels." Calls are outnumbering puts ~2:1, but the November 20^th 55.00 put is the highest volume contract (volume is 1,028).

New 52-week highs (15 new highs today): Atkore Inc. (ATKR + $0.03 to $94.78), Okta Inc. (OKTA + $0.61 to $209.72), Twist Biosciences Corp. (TWST + $4.97 to $198.21)

Notable Call Activity

Some unusual call activity (~24:1 calls over puts on 4x average daily volume at midday) is being seen in Birkenstock Holding PLC (BIRK + $0.70 to $33.11) as option traders primarily target the November 20^th 35.00 call. Volume on this contract is 7,732 versus open interest of 341, so we know that the activity primarily represents fresh positioning. The majority of the transactions consisted of various-sized blocks that were bought at various times for between $1.65-1.80 each, including a 2,000 contract block that was bought at the ask price of $1.65, which suggests bullish intent.

Today's Bearish Activity

Shares of Micron Technology Inc. (MU - $22.37 to $1,042.74) are trading lower this morning despite posting a solid "beat and raise" quarter last night after the bell. The DRAM and NAND maker reported fiscal Q4 adjusted EPS of $33.42 ($1.97 beat) on Q4 sales that increased 379% YoY to $54.229B (above the $50.751B expected). For the current quarter, the company guided Q1 adjusted EPS to a range of $37.15-39.15 and Q1 sales to a range of $60.00-63.00B, both which were well above the respective $35.07 & $56.553B consensus estimates. Micron management also said they believe the memory and storage supply/demand conditions to be much tighter in 2027 and 2028 versus 2026. Calls are outnumbering puts nearly 2:1 with the October 2^nd1100.00 call seeing the most action from traders (volume is 32,589).

Also trading to the downside this morning is Acuity Inc. (AYI - $12.26 to $297.55) after the provider of lighting, lighting controls, and building management systems reported Q4 adjusted EPS of $5.77 ($0.11 beat) on Q4 sales that increased 2.89% YoY to $1.244B (below the $1.254B expected). The company said that it received $44.9M in tariff refunds during the quarter, which were reflected as a non-GAAP adjustment to the results. Option volume is tepid at the time of this writing with the October 16^th 280.00 put being the highest volume contract (volume is 39).

New 52-week lows (343 new lows today): AppLovin Corp. (APP - $8.42 to $282.01), Builders FirstSource Inc. (BLDR - $2.08 to $54.93), Clorox Company (CLX - $1.31 to $79.70)

Notable Put Activity

Some unusual put activity (~80:1 puts over calls) is being seen in aerospace engine aftermarket services provider StandardAero Inc. (SARO - $0.16 to $21.20) as option traders primarily target the November 20^th 20.00 put. Volume on this contract is 2,590 versus open interest of four, so it's likely that nearly all the volume represents fresh positioning. The bulk of the transactions consisted of various-sized blocks that were bought around the same time at the ask price of $1.00 each, which suggests bearish intent.

Volume Signals

USA TODAY Co., Inc. (TDAY + $0.61 to $6.90): Option volume is running at ~257x the daily average on this media and digital marketing solutions company which is primarily being driven by activity on the October 16^th 8.00 call. Volume on this contract is 4,682 versus open interest of 528, so we know that the volume primarily represents fresh positioning. The bulk of the transactions consisted of various-sized blocks that were bought at various times for between $0.13-0.20 each, which suggests bullish intent.

The Western Union Company (WU + $0.07 to $5.97): Option volume is running at ~15x the daily average on this money movement and digital financial services provider which is primarily being driven by a 24,000-contract block that was bought on the January 2029 7.00 call for $0.90 when the bid/ask spread was $0.60 x $1.10 (open interest is 6,096). We know that this block is a new position based on the open interest figure, and we can assume that the intent is bullish in nature since the trade took place above the midpoint of the bid/ask spread.

Kanzhun Ltd. (BZ - $0.02 to $14.79): Option volume is running at ~15x the daily average on this China-based online recruitment platform which is primarily being driven by a 4,500-contract block that was bought on the April 2027 17.50 call for $0.88 when the bid/ask spread was $0.70 x $0.90 (open interest is 30). We know that this block is a new position based on the open interest figure, and we can assume that the intent is bullish in nature since the trade took place above the midpoint of the bid/ask spread.

Gauging Volatility

The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX + 0.59 to 16.93) has been on both sides of the unchanged line today (the intraday range is 16.21-17.59), as equity markets are lower around the midday mark (DJI - 47, SPX - 4, $COMP - 33, RUT + 5). VIX option volume has been above average today at 590,808 contracts, and calls are slightly outnumbering puts so far today.

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