Options Report: Traders Buy Bank One Call Options on Hope Retirement of CEO Will Spark Turnaround
NEW YORK -- Options traders focused on adjusting their positions, finding ways to make money even as they waited for a critical decision on interest rates.</br></br>The central bank's policy-making panel ended its final meeting of 1999 yesterday without an interest-rate increase, but it surprised market watchers by maintaining a neutral monetary-policy stance.</br></br>The options market's fear gauge, the Chicago Board Options Exchange's Market Volatility Index, or VIX, fell 1.22 to 23.44, after it had climbed past 25.80 early in the session.</br></br>Market watchers expect volatility to continue to ease heading into the holidays, but not for long. "Volatility could relax a little, but with the next earnings season just around the corner, the anxiety will return to the market," said Paul Foster, 1010WallStreet.com's options strategist.</br></br>Even before Bank One Corp. announced the retirement of Chairman and Chief Executive John B. McCoy, traders who managed to catch wind of the news began buying the bank's call options.