Option Block 543: Broker Buying Sprees and Earnings Breakdowns

Trading Block: Big news! OptionsHouse is now the sponsor of The Option Block. Earnings today include CME, FORD, DOW. Ford off nearly 9% AMZN: $748.50. ATM Straddle approx. $50, 6.6% GOOG: $742. ATM Straddle approx. $38.50, 5%. Odd Block: Calls trade in ETSY Inc. (ETSY), calls trade in The Technology SPDR (XLK), calls and puts trade in Yandex NV (YNDX) Mail Block: Listener questions and comments Question from AWorth: Can the Options House guys explain how their short buyback program works? Is it only for outright shorts, or if I have a short leg of a spread that is near the money on expiration but trading under $.10, can I close that out without commission or do I have to close the whole spread? Question from Thomas Hatch: I like dividend yield stocks. I listened to an earlier show and you mentioned writing covered calls to generate dividends. Can I apply this strategy to dividend yield stocks? Any risks I should watch out for when doing this? Question from 777: Are you aware of any specific gold arb between chinese gold derivatives and their U.S. equivalents? Around the Block: Earnings on Friday include CBOE, Exxon-Mobil (XOM), Merck (MRK) and UPS (UPS). This weekin the market sees GDP, Consumer Sentiment on July 29.