Analyst/ETF Trader Paul Weisbruch of Street One Financial brings us his daily fund flows update, which today examines some profit taking in the world’s largest ETF, along with some downside bets on the red-hot energy sector.
New highs have brought some more profit taking in SPY, as the fund has seen north of $3 billion flow out lately, making for a brutal month of November with over $9.3 billion leaving the doors month-to-date.
On the flipside, heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, inflows in the marketplace have been rather light this week on the whole. In ETF/Index options trading we have seen some interest in a strike that we have not previously seen any notable action in, the 290 strike March calls in SPY. While these options are more than 11% out-of-the-money at present levels, there is significant time left until expiration on these contracts.
Elsewhere, it looks like options players are treating the Oil Exploration/Production space with caution here as we have seen trading interest in both the December 34.50 and 33 strike puts in XOP (SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production (MX:XOP)).
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (AX:SPY) was trading at $259.80 per share on Wednesday morning, down $0.19 (-0.07%). Year-to-date, SPY has gained 17.30%.
SPY currently has an ETF Daily News SMART Grade of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #1 of 136 ETFs in the Large Cap Blend ETFs category.