April 5, 2016 Market Wrap Up

The market was under a lot of selling pressure for most of the day. It all started last night, as Asian and European markets were both weak. The S&P 500 closed down more than 1%, making it two straight down days in a row.

The VIX shot up after hanging out in the low 13s…it’s now back above 15, as it closed the day 9.2% higher at 15.42.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in NeoPhotonics (NPTN). In addition, we saw heavy put buying in Big Lots (BIG), which was 7.3 times usual options volume.

Stocks in play included: Allegran (AGN) -15%, DragonWave (DRWI) +36%, and Tesla Motors (TSLA) +3.8%

In the after-hours, we saw a jump in crude oil prices following the American Petroleum Institute numbers. They reported a drop in crude inventories by 4.3m barrels. The United States Oil Fund (USO) is up more than 2% on that.

Here’s what’s on tap for the rest of the week:

Key Economic Data:
6 April 2016- EIA Petroleum Report 10:30 AM ET, FOMC Minutes 2:00 PM ET
7 April 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
6 April 2016- GPN, MON, STZ, APOG, APOL, BBBY
7 April 2016- CAG, KMX, RAD

Key Events:
6 April 2016- 2016 MRO Americas Conference (runs till 4/7)
7 April 2016- Cowen 2nd Annual Retail & Luxury Day