Volume Spike Investor

Biogen Idec Inc. (NASDAQ: BIIB) is seeing a rolling of options into January with some elevated call options activity.  This looks more like options-related trading than actual bets being made in the price of the stock.   One of the Najarian brothers noted on CNBC that there has been takeover rumors in the name, but we would point out that there have been many takeover rumors on and off before.  At one point the company even made a half-hearted effort to find a buyer that went effectively unanswered at any appreciable price and to Carl Icahn’s dismay.  At 12:58 PM EST we have shares up 2% at $51.09 on only about 1.8 million shares of common stock.  Here is a snapshot of the JAN-2010 CALLS with options volume and the prior open interest:

CALL$    Volume    OpInt.
50.00    2,754    24,438
55.00    7,187    10,456
60.00    1,373    15,141

JON C. OGG
DECEMBER 21, 2009