Shares in beleaguered organic and high-end grocer Whole Foods (Ticker: WFM) jumped as much as 6.4% in the first hour of trading to $40.39 to the highest since June 20th. The spike in the price of WFM shares and unconfirmed chatter on Twitter and theflyonthewall.com spurred heavy trading in weekly options on the stock. The most traded contracts are the 08Aug’14 39.0 strike calls, which have traded more than 5,300 times against open interest of roughly 1,300 contracts. Time and sales suggests the bulk of the volume is the work of buyers paying an average premium of $0.48 apiece. First movers paid around $0.20 per contract for around 1,400 of those contracts. Also active are the 08Aug’14 39.5 and 40.0 strike calls, with upwards of 2,300 calls traded at each striking price.
Chart – Whole Foods shares rise; volume in shares, options spike
