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Oil speculation investigations are revealing some powerful players.

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Stocks In Focus For Tuesday

TRADERS TAKE AUGUST OFF because they won't miss much, but these days the market stasis owes nothing to calm and everything to nervous paralysis.[More...]

One reason why the crisis that began to unfold in the spring of last year was inevitable -- and why it continues to worsen, contrary to the opinion of so-called "experts" (e.g., highly-paid Wall Street "strategists") -- was because a gargantuan house of c[More...]

Filed under: Major movement, Earnings reports, Bad news, Industry, Options, Technical Analysis

InterContinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE) shares are falling today after the company reported second-quarter earnings of $84.9 million, or $1.19 a share, matching analysts' estimates. However, shares of ICE are declining today, as investors may be weighing the company's earnings against chief competitor Nymex Holdings (NYSE: NMX), which beat analysts' earnings forecasts last week and claimed to have won more market share from ICE in the hotly-contested West Texas Intermediate crude market. 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 ICE.

After hitting a one-year high of $194.92 in December, the stock hit a one-year low of $80.20 in July. This morning, ICE opened at $98.49. So far today the stock has hit a low of $88.33 and a high of $98.49. As of 12:20, ICE is trading at $88.33, down $7.87 (-8.2%). The chart for ICE looks bearish and steady, 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 September bear-call credit spread above the $120 range. A bear-call credit spread is an options position that combines the purchase 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 4.2% return in seven weeks as long as ICE is below $120 at September expiration. InterContinental Exchange would have to rise by more than 35% before we would start to lose money. Learn more about this type of trade here.

ICE hasn't been above $120 since late June and has shown resistance around $103 recently. This trade could be risky if the overall market turns around quickly and stages a rebound, but even if that happens, the position above could be protected by resistance the stock might find at its 50-day moving average, which is currently around $113 and falling.

Brent Archer is an options analyst and writer at Investors Observer. At publication time, Brent neither owns nor controls positions in ICE nor NMX.

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The Wall Street Journal’s “Smartmoney Stock Screen” looks at eight companies whose valuations make them ripe to buy, and they also may be in the sites of corporate buyers. [More...]

( NYSE: CME) announced plans today for a share buyback and special dividend that effectively sweetens its bid for Nymex Holdings Inc. ( NYSE: NMX). [More...]

Tammy DeRosier and Sue Morrison with a Market Update

For the week ending May 4th 2007 Wall Street seems to have forgotten all about "market conditions" and keeps pouring out the IPOs. Investors are hungry again and one great example is Interactive Brkrs (IBKR) out of Greenwich, CT: The company took advantage of theor dutch auction. However Mr. Gaskings could only justify a grade and ranking of B-, 8 Included in this weeks analysis is a a comparison with NYMEX Holdings (NMX) CBOT Holdings (BOT) Chicago Merc (CME) InterconExchng (ICE) and International Sec Exc (ISE)

Rounding out the field for this week is Acorn International (ATV) who operates Chinese infomercials and direct mail; receiving a C+ grade and 7 rank. Cavium Networks (CAVM) Who provides semi-conductors for networks: C+, 7 - Qiao Xing-Mobile (QXM) a mobile handset maker: C+, 7 - NeurogesX (NGSX) in the biopharma pain management sector: C, 6 -

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AMC Entertainment (AC) operates 411 theaters through their AMC & Loews brands: C+, 7 A comparison with Regal Entertainment (RGC) and Cinemark Holdings (CNK)

Published jointly by IPOdesktop.com and StreetIQ

Ed Stenson takes a look at market news before the open.

Andrew Coffey CoffeyGrinds with Dr J on MN1.com Today we talked about the Upcoming IPO’s Like IPG Photonics[IPGP] and Artis Medical [ARTE] That removes wrinkles. Cal Dive International [DVR] and the dividend to [HLX] Helix Energy also Dr J from Optionsmonster clues us in on the inter workings of the upcoming CBOE deal and the other exchanges. An informative conversation and a little about the CME NMX and the VIX price under 11. Worth a listen or join us live 9:15am CST.

Mark Fightmaster takes a look back at the major events that drove the market today.