Newmont Mining stock is on the move, heading for its best day since July
Gold miner Newmont Corporation (NYSE:NEM) is one of the best stocks on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today, last seen up 3.6% to trade at $52.55. Gold prices are on the move today, with front-month gold futures last seen up 1.3%, buoyed by expectations of an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve next week.
Yesterday, Newmont sold its Telfer mine in Western Australia to Greatland Gold for $475 million, and NEM shed 1.1% in response. Today, the shares are heading for the best single-session gain since July 11, and are a chip shot from their Aug. 30 18-month high of $53.88. Year-to-date, Newmont stock is up 27%.
Near-term options traders appear positioned for a move to the downside, according to the equity’s Schaeffer’s put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.72. This reading ranks in the 99th annual percentile, showing a rare put-skew among short-term options traders.
Today, calls are more popular. At last check, over 2,000 call contracts have changed hands, volume that’s double the average intraday amount and nearly four times the number of puts traded. The weekly 9/13 55-strike call is the most popular, followed closely by the 55-strike call in the standard September series.
Options traders are in luck. Newmont’s Schaeffer’s Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 75 shows the stock’s strong tendency to make bigger-than-expected moves during the past year, relative to what the options market was pricing in.