Midday Market Stats: Dow Jones Industrial Average Is Off 15 Points

Despite positive developments out of the euro zone, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI – 12,821.85) is 15 points, or 0.1%, lower, as investors wait with bated breath to see if the Fed will announce plans for further economic stimulus later today. Elsewhere, the CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX – 18.91) is up 0.5 point, or 2.9%.

Here are a few noteworthy stats at midday:

1. The equity put/call volume ratio across all nine options exchanges stands at 1.03, with 2.4 million puts changing hands so far today, compared to 2.3 million calls.

2. Among the equities with put-skewed activity is The Procter Gamble Company (PG – 60.16), which has shed about 3.3% so far today. The consumer products giant was slapped with price-target cuts at BMO and Bernstein after lowering its current-quarter guidance.

3. The put/call volume ratio on the iPath SP 500 VIX Short-Term Futures ETN (VXX) stands at 0.73, with calls comfortably outnumbering puts.

4. The Nasdaq shows an advance/decline ratio of 0.92, indicating that the number of downward movers slightly outstrips the advancers.

5. Among the Nasdaq’s major decliners is Acme Packet, Inc. (APKT – 20.63), which has lost about 5.8% in intraday action — tagging a new multi-year low of $20.21. The software issue was downgraded to “hold” from “buy” and had its price target lowered to $21 from $40 at Jefferies early this morning.

6. Bullish sentiment was unchanged last week, according to the latest Investors Intelligence survey. The percentage of financial advisors with a bullish view on stocks remained flat at 37.2%, while the percentage bearish slipped to 25.6% from 26.6%. Meanwhile, the percentage of investors expecting a market correction climbed to 37.2% from 36.2%.

permalink

• Midday Market Stats: Dow Jones Industrial Average Rises 82 Points
• Midday Market Stats: Dow Jones Industrial Average Can’t Find a Direction
• Midday Market Stats: Dow Jones Industrial Average Falls 133 Points
• Midday Market Stats: Dow Jones Industrial Average Slides 80 Points
• Midday Market Stats: Dow Jones Industrial Average Slides 22 Points