Options Traders Target 2 Bank Stocks After Earnings

SCHW is on track for its third-straight daily loss

Bank earnings are flooding in, with Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) and Charles Schwab Corporation (NYSE:SCHW) among the latest to report second-quarter results. Both firms surpassed top- and bottom-line expectations, with the former seeing strong performance in both trading and investment banking and the latter missing net interest margin estimates.

MS is up 1.3% to trade at $106.65 at last check, reversing premarket losses. The shares yesterday surged to a two-year high of $106.53 and now sport a 12.4% year-to-date lead, with new support emerging at $10 region, which coincides with the site of its May highs.

Meanwhile, SCHW was last seen down 6.7% to trade at $70.07, pacing for its third-straight daily loss after earlier hitting its lowest level since March. The equity is also breaching long-term support at the 60-day moving average, which contained pullbacks in June and July. 

Options traders are blasting both stocks today. So far, 22,000 calls and 10,000 puts have crossed the tape for MS, while 17,000 calls and 28,000 puts were traded for SCHW — three and seven times the intraday average volume, respectively. The July 105 call is most active for the latter, and for the former positions are being opened at the leading September 25 put.

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