September 1, 2015 Market Wrap Up

The S&P 500 got absolutely smoked today, down nearly 3 percent. The market was weak overnight because of poor data out of China, PMI was worse than expected. Interestingly, the SPY straddle going into Monday was implying a 2.6% move. With that said, not too many traders were expecting this kind of volatility heading into Labor Day.

The VIX closed at 31.40, up more than 10%. Not only that, but the VIX remains in backwardation. This is when near term futures are more expensive than farther dated futures.

The energy sector saw a big sell-off after seeing recent gains. The United States Oil Fund (USO) is down nearly 9%.

On the options front, we saw bullish call buying in Yelp Inc (YELP). We also saw bearish option activity in Pfizer (PFE).

Here’s what else is going on:

Key Economic Data:
3 September 2015- International Trade 8:30 AM ET, Jobless Claims 8:30 AM ET
4 September 2015- Employment Situation 8:30 AM ET

Key Earnings:
2 September 2015- FIVE, NAV, VRA
3 September 2015- CPB, CIEN, BLOX, JOY, MDT, PAY, LE, COO