August 20, 2015 Market Wrap Up

The S&P 500 got absolutely destroyed today; despite no real news. Nonetheless, we were down over 2% and the VIX exploding up over 25% and closing at 19.14.

We saw big sell-offs in Facebook -5%, Disney -6%, Twitter -6%, and Merck -4.5%.

Of course, all eyes will be on China this evening for indication of how the U.S. Markets will open up.

One big winner today, was the precious metal gold. The SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), was up nearly 2%. Proving that during volatile markets, gold is still considered a safe haven. On the other hand, crude oil futures hit a multi-year low, down over 55% in 12 months.

On the options front, we saw bullish call buying in Calpine Corp (CPN). We also saw bearish option activity in Splunk, Inc.

Tomorrow is August options expiration.

Here’s what else is going on:

Key Earnings:
21 August 2015- DE, FL