Option Block 589: Jedi vs. Sith. vs Earnings Season

Trading Block: The Trump Effect: President Donald Trump is set to unleash a cascade of stock-market anxiety - The day of reckoning for the Wall Street is here. McDonalds (MCD) earnings today. Friday close - $122.26; ATM Straddle - $3.52, approx. 3%; Open down $.75, Traded as low as $2.44; No more love for all-day breakfast.

Odd Block: Calls and puts trade in Morgan Stanley (MS), calls trade in Home Depot Inc (HD) and calls trade in Lending Club Corp (LC)

Mail Block: Questions, Comments, Polls, and more

Options #QuestionOfTheWeek

Earnings Season awakens! How do you play earnings using options? Are you an Earnings #Jedi or #Sith?

• 41% - Dark Side (Short Premium)
• 26% - Light Side (Long Premium)
• 25% - No Side - Avoid earnings
• 08% - Other (Reply/DM w/ideas)

Options #QuestionOfTheWeek - Lots of earnings on the horizon. Which company will outperform their earnings straddle by the largest margin?

• Alphabet - $GOOGL
• Microsoft - $MSFT
• Intel - $INTC
• Starbucks - $SBUX

Listener questions and comments

• Comment from Steve Place - CREE it is always CREE
• Question from Chris - Is there a way to subscribe to your posts as they go up on the website so you can get notified via email or mobile phone? Thanks, Chris
• Question from Fundconcept - Do you think activist investors opportunities will rise considering their experience with mkt volatility?

Around the Block/Earnings Highlights this Week:

• Tuesday - Alibaba Group, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, Kimberly-Clark
• Wednesday - Boeing, Abbott Labs, eBay, Qualcomm, AT&T
• Thursday - Alphabet, PayPal, E-Trade, Microsoft, Southwest, Caterpillar, Intel
• Friday - Honeywell