March 2, 2016 Market Wrap Up

So far, the months of January and February have spoiled traders in terms of volatility. Now, we’ve only had two days in March, but volatility is coming in hard. The VIX is down nearly 17% over the last two days, and is now trading at 17.

We’re almost getting back to the ol’ good news is good and bad news is good environment. For example, we saw a build in crude oil inventories. However, crude oil prices reacted positively towards those figures.

On the options front, we saw large call buying activity in PulteGroup (PHM). In addition, we saw heavy put buying in BP Prudhoe Bay Royalty Trust (BPT), which was three times usual options volume.

Stocks in play included: Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS) +8.25%, SunEdison (SUNE) +19.3%, and Tableau Software (DATA) -9%.

Here’s what’s going on tomorrow and the rest of the week:

Key Economic Data:
3 March 2016- Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
4 March 2016- Employment Situation 8:30 AM ET, International Trade 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
2 March 2016- ANF, DSX, COSST, NOG
3 March 2016- BKS, BURL, CIEN, JOY, CIEN, KR, SSYS, AMBA, AVGO, NMBL
4 March 2016- SPLS

Key Conferences:
3 March 2016- BMO Metals & Mining Conference (runs till 3/3), Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference (runs till 3/3), Simmons Energy Conference (runs till 03/4)