The company reports fourth quarter and year end numbers after the close.
One quick note on index construction, IBM the DJIA's highest priced component was only down 16 cents. Had it been down as much as the average Dow stock the index would have been down another 5 points on top of the 54 points it declined.
One of the specialist's tricks in the bad old days was to hold the higher priced stocks up while the other components went lower, as the higher priced issues had an inordinate effect on the index for a given percentage move.
It doesn't happen as much anymore given the smaller influence of the specialists but this kind of action still gets my antennae twitching.
From Schaeffer's Research:
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) was targeted by heavy buying activity on both sides of the put/call coin yesterday, but at least one trader is taking a bullish stand on the technology guru ahead of tomorrow night's quarterly earnings report. For the record, CSCO is expected to post a profit of 37 cents per share, up from earnings of 27 cents per share in the same quarter last year. Historically, the company has topped the consensus estimate in each of the prior four reporting periods by an average of 12%.For more on IBM and the DJIA see "Oh Joy! The DJIA's Highest Priced Component is Getting Spanked (IBM)". The spanking was pre-market action. The Dow opened at 10,151.48 and got as low as 9,973.17.
Betting on a bounce, one options trader bought 6,400 August 24 calls for the ask price of $0.79, or $79 per contract. At the same time, the investor sold 6,400 August 26 calls for the bid price of $0.10, or $10 per contract....MORE
We closed yesterday at 10,644.25, the high for this run occurring Monday at the intraday 10,755.66.
I'm jus' sayin' is all.
For more on CSCO see Monday's ""New Upleg for Cisco" (CSCO)":
Yesterday the stock closed up 2.9% at $24.77.or use the 'Search Blog' box keyword CSCO. We have a lot of posts on the behemoth.
A mighty fine chart.
[every sunken ship had a chart -ed]...
