General Electric Looks to Break From Financials

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (TheStreet) -- General Electric's(GE Quote) stock price is looking to make another run similar to one it had prior to the company's third quarter earnings report Oct. 16.

General Electric's stock price was positive Tuesday even as most big financials, including Citigroup (C Quote), Bank of America (BAC Quote), Wells Fargo (WFC Quote) and AIG (AIG Quote) were all lower. General Electric's stock price is up slightly during the past five trading days through Tuesday, while the S&P 500 is down over that time.

Industrial stocks, with which General Electric would like to be compared, were more mixed Tuesday, with Honeywell (HON Quote) and ITT (ITT Quote) trading higher while other industrial, including Caterpillar (CAT Quote) and United Technologies (UTX Quote) were lower.

While General Electric's volumes were lower Tuesday than their three-month trailing average, that is to be expected during a holiday-shortened week. Still, more than 80,000 General Electric shares traded Tuesday, or about 80% of the three-month trailing average of 100,000 shares. By contrast, the 192,000 Citigroup shares that traded were less than half the trailing three-month average of 590,000 shares.

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The positive sentiment Tuesday may have been driven by options activity. CNBC noted a massive purchase of General Electric call options that won't pay off unless General Electric's stock price hits $23.25 by January 2011 -- 44% higher than where it closed Tuesday.