Traders are using options contracts on exchange traded funds to bet on strength in technology stocks and the U.S. dollar, Street One Financial said Thursday.
Tech ETFs were pressured by weakness in Cisco (NasdaqGS: CSCO) as the company’s outlook left Wall Street disappointed.
Still, call buyers have appeared in Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEArca: XLK) “making a near term bet on upside in the sector, which has held up relatively well in the context of the overall market recently,” wrote Paul Weisbruch, vice president of ETF/options sales and trading at Street One Financial, in a report.
Options traders have also been positioning for a bigger bounce in the dollar even though most investors seem to hate the greenback.
“In currency land, we continue to see bullish activity in PowerShares U.S. Dollar Bullish (NYSEArca: UUP), with buyers of June and December calls, and this has been a recurring theme as the dollar has worked off of its bottom in the past week or so,” Weisbruch noted. [Greenback Gains as Commodities Trip]