Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) falls on NYX earnings
Posted by: admin in Industry NewsFiled under: Earnings reports, Bad news, Industry, Chicago Merc Exch Hld’A’ (CME), NYSE Euronext (NYX), Options, Technical Analysis
CME Group (NYSE: CME) shares are falling after competitor NYSE Euronext (NYSE: NYX) reported a first-quarter profit above analysts’ estimates. CME’s earnings that disappointed investors two weeks ago look even worse in light of NYX’s good results this morning. If you think this stock won’t be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on CME.
After hitting a one-year high of $714.48 in December, the stock hit a one-year low of $399.01 in March. This morning, CME opened at $487.00. So far this day the stock has hit a low of $476.27 and a high of $487.65. As of 12:40, CME is trading at $481.03, down $8.32 (-1.7%). The chart for CME looks neutral but improving, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.
For a bearish hedged play on this stock, I would consider a June bear-call credit spread above the $550 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the buy and sale of call options to hedge risk in case the stock doesn’t do what you think but still leverage nice returns. For this particular trade, we will make a 9.9% return in six and a half weeks as long as CME is below $550 at June expiration. CME would have to rise by more than 14% before we would begin to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.
CME hasn’t been above $535 since early February and has shown resistance around $523 recently. This trade could be risky if the stock has found a floor recently in the mid-$400s and starts to recover, but even if that happens, this position could be protected by resistance CME might find around $530, where it has topped out twice over the past 3 months.
Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer.
DISCLOSURE: Mr. Archer owns and/or controls diversified portfolios of long and short stock and option positions that might include holdings in companies he writes about. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in CME.
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