STOCKS NEWS US-NYSE announces Q2 circuit-breaker levels

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1734 ET 31March2010-NYSE announces Q2 circuit
breaker levels

The New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday announced new circuit-breaker collar trigger levels for the second-quarter 2010:

Circuit-breaker points represent the thresholds at which trading is halted marketwide for single-day declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.



LEVEL 1 HALT

A 1,050-point drop in the Dow before 2 p.m. will halt trading for one hour; for 30 minutes if between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., and have no effect if at 2:30 p.m. or later unless there is a level 2 halt.

LEVEL 2 HALT

A 2,150-point drop in the Dow before 1:00 p.m. will halt trading for two hours; for one hour if between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., and for the remainder of the day if at 2:00 p.m. or later.

LEVEL 3 HALT

A 3,200-point drop will halt trading for the remainder of the day regardless of when the decline occurs.

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1638 ET 31March2010 RTRS-US STOCKS
Wall St falls on jobs worry, but Q1 higher

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as a report showing a surprising drop in private- sector employment stoked concerns about the health of the labor market two days before the government's key jobs data.

Wall Street took a one-two punch from ADP Employer Services data showing U.S. private-sector employers unexpectedly cut jobs in March and a separate report that showed U.S. Midwest business activity expanded less than expected last month. For details, see.

The news was a setback for investors anxious for more evidence that the economic recovery is gaining strength and led investors to lock in profits in strong-performing sectors, such as consumer discretionary shares, which rose more than 10 percent for the quarter.

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1703 ET 31Mar2010
Ford option plays suggests bullish stance

Ford Motor Co appeared to have attracted bullish option plays ahead of the automaker's monthly auto and truck sales data on Thursday.

'Ford sees a bullish put sale this morning with 20,000 April $13 puts trading on the bid side of the market at 63 cents per contract,' said Patrick Mortimer, director of options trading at Pipeline Trading Systems.

With a delta of 59, this sale is the equivalent of just over 1 million shares of stock, he added. The stock's option implied volatility slipped 5 percent from Tuesday's level of 42 percent. Also of interest is the action in the April $14 calls. During the session, more than 60,000 contracts traded at an average price of 15 cents, with almost all buyer initiated, Mortimer said. Ford's total volume was four times greater than the typical level with about 577,000 calls and 216,000 puts traded, according to Trade Alert.

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1500 ET 31March2010-Short interest in natural gas companies rises
Jefferies

'Natural gas-related energy names have seen short interest levels shoot higher over the past month -- in many cases, over 10 percent -- while experiencing steep sell-offs,' Jefferies & Co. analysts wrote.

'However, interesting to point out that options are pricing in the risk for a gap up is currently higher than the risk of a gap down in the stock price. We recommend investors short stock to do short stock replacements trades going into earnings season.'

Jefferies pointed to Chesapeake Energy Corp as the best example of this. The stock has fallen as much as 15 percent over the past month, while its short interest has risen 30 percent in the same time period.

These shares got a boost on Wednesday, however, after U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans for an expansion of U.S. offshore oil and gas drilling. For details, see

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