Today's Options Market Update

Stocks Higher as Treasury Yields, Oil Prices Decline

August 25, 2026 Nathan Peterson

Stocks are in the green across the board around midday as the pullback in U.S. Treasury yields and lower oil prices help lift investor sentiment.

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Stocks rose in early trading, with chipmakers reclaiming some lost ground, as Treasury yields and oil prices fell.

This morning brings August consumer confidence data as well as July new home sales and the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller home price data for June. But much of the market is focused on Wednesday, when we'll get earnings from Nvidia (NVDA) and CrowdStrike (CRWD), as well as July inflation data from the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index.

The major stock indexes finished mixed on Monday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.76% as investors dumped chip stocks ahead of Nvidia's earnings report. Yields also dropped modestly after CNBC reported that the Treasury Department could use its $1 trillion General Account to fund its bond buybacks. The breakdown of U.S.-Canada trade talks and the U.S.'s new plan to isolate Iran economically also weighed on sentiment.

Source: Schwab Center for Financial Research

Morning Rush

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield (TNX) is lower by ~5 basis points to 4.649%.

The U.S. Dollar Index ($DXY) is lower by 0.04 at 98.96.

WTI Crude Oil (/CL) October futures are lower by 2.80% to $82.63/barrel.

Gold prices have traded in a range of $4,659.50-4,755.00 and were last seen trading lower by ~0.23% to $4,687.20/oz.

Natural Gas prices for September futures have traded in a range of $2.696-2.763 today and were last seen trading lower by 1.91% to $2.729.

Bitcoin (BTC) is higher by ~0.16% over the last 24 hours to $79,110.50 today.

Today's Bullish Activity

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD + $20.38 to $477.13) are trading higher this morning after Raymond James upgraded the chip maker to “Strong Buy” from “Outperform” and hiked their price target on the stock to $641.00 from $565.00. Raymond James analyst Simon Leopold cited the company’s potential to benefit from strong CPU growth trends and said that AMD “offers the strongest combination of direct earnings leverage, datacenter positioning and market-share gains”. Calls are outnumbering puts ~3:2 with the August 28^th500.00 call being the highest volume contract (volume is 13,261).

Also trading to the upside this morning is The Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS + $4.12 to $90.98) after the financial services provider reported fiscal Q3 adjusted EPS of $1.65 ($0.12 beat) on Q3 revenue that increased 10.23% year-over-year to $7.61B (above the $7.204B expected). Calls are outpacing puts ~10:1 with the September 18^th 90.00 call being the highest volume contract (volume is 1,415).

New 52-week highs (68 new highs today): Amgen Inc. (AMGN + $2.36 to $446.20), CarMax Inc. (KMX + $1.01 to $63.81), Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX + $0.50 to $78.30)

Notable Call Activity

Some unusual call activity (~45:1 calls over puts) is being seen in Energizer Holdings Inc. (ENR + $0.12 to $21.60) which is primarily being driven by activity on the November 20^th 25.00 call. Volume on this contract is 2,832 versus open interest of 871, so we know that the volume primarily represents fresh positioning. The activity included two 1,000 contract blocks that were bought around the same time at the ask price of $0.75 each, which suggests bullish intent.

Today's Bearish Activity

Shares of Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS - $48.76 to $130.57) are on track for the worst one-day drop in the company’s history after the sporting goods retailer reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $3.53 ($0.24 miss) on Q2 revenue that increased 53.19% YoY to $5.587B (below the $5.65B expected). DKS also cut its annual operating income forecast to a range of $1.45-1.55B (from $1.68-1.81B) and reduced its same-store sales forecast at Foot Locker to “flat to down 2%” from a prior view of +1.5-3.0%, citing increasingly tough conditions in the athletic footwear and apparel markets. Calls and puts are trading roughly even with the September 18^th160.00 put being the highest volume contract (volume is 7,518).

Also trading to the downside this morning is Citi Trends Inc. (CTRN - $6.00 to $68.35), which appears to be due to a top line miss on the company’s Q2 earnings report earlier this morning. The value-based apparel, accessories and home trends retailer reported a Q2 loss of $0.11 per share ($0.23 beat) on Q2 revenue that rose 10.9% YoY to $211.6M (below the $214.991M expected). Looking ahead, the company bumped its full-year total sales growth to a range of 10-12% (from 9-11%) and comparable same-store sales growth to a range of +9-11% (from a prior outlook of +8-10%). Note: There was no option volume on CTRN at the time of this writing.

New 52-week lows (72 new lows today): BWX Technologies Inc. (BWXT + $0.56 to $150.08), L3 Harris Technologies Inc. (LHX - $0.23 to $262.60), On Holdings AG (ONON - $0.68 to $28.83)

Notable Put Activity

Some unusual put activity (~25:1 puts over calls) is being seen in Gartner Inc. (IT - $2.63 to $200.15) which is primarily being driven by activity on the September 18^th 190.00 put. Volume on this contract is 2,634 versus open interest of 72, 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 at various times for between $6.20-6.50 each, which suggests bearish intent.

Volume Signals

Vera Therapeutics Inc. (VERA + $1.67 to $35.39): Option volume is running at ~27x the daily average on this clinical-stage biotech firm which is primarily being driven by a couple of large blocks that simultaneously traded on the September 18^th expiration earlier this morning:

35.00 call (open interest is 4,797): A 4,950 contract block was bought for $2.60 when the bid/ask spread was $2.10 x $2.70.
45.00 call (open interest is 1,445): A 4,950 contract block was sold for $0.30 when the bid/ask spread was $0.25 x $0.60.

We know that both these blocks are new positions based on the respective open interest figures, and it appears that a $10.00-wide bull call spread was established for a net debit of $2.30 (x 4,950 contracts x 100 multiplier, excluding commissions). The positioning suggests that the block trader believes VERA will close above the break-even price of $37.30 at expiration.

AVITA Medical Inc. (RCEL + $0.51 to $10.42): Option volume is running at ~8x the daily average on this regenerative medicine company which is primarily being driven by activity on the October 16^th 15.00 call. Volume on this contract is 1,615 versus open interest of 12, 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 at various times for between $0.35-0.50 each, which suggests bullish intent.

Stryker Corp. (SYK + $3.13 to $330.94): Option volume is running at ~7x the daily average on this medical technology company which is primarily being driven by a 1,920 contract block that was bought on the September 18^th 340.00 call for $4.80 when the bid/ask spread was $4.30 x $5.20 (open interest is 633). 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 - 0.36 to 15.49) has been on both sides of the unchanged line today (the intraday range is 15.13-16.30), as equity markets are higher around the midday mark (DJI + 97, SPX + 22, $COMP + 155, RUT + 10). VIX option volume has been average today at 465,263 contracts, and calls are outpacing puts nearly 3:1 so far today.

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