Earnings Blowups Have Tech Investors Seeking Options Hedges
- Ratio of Nasdaq VIX to S&P 500 gauge near highest since August
- Apple, Amazon and Facebook set to report earnings this week
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Tech traders who just lived through their worst week since February, with company after company plunging on earnings shortfalls, are taking steps to insulate themselves from a repeat.
Precautions underway in the options market have pushed a Chicago Board Options Exchange gauge of hedging costs in the Nasdaq 100 Index to the highest since August versus a similar measure for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Technology stocks in the S&P 500 slipped 2 percent last week, the most in almost three months, as Microsoft Inc. and Google parent Alphabet Inc. missed profit estimates.