Amazon Options See Some Interest, but Broader Trading Stays Quiet

As investors traipse through a truncated summer trading week, volume on the major option exchanges is light.

With many traders and investors taking Thursday and Friday off to hit the links, one would expect a lackluster session. "Expect dull action for the next two days, but that sort of trading usually drifts to the upside," said Larry McMillan, options strategist and head of McMillan Analysis.

A floor trader at the American Stock Exchange said trading was "very slow" and that today probably wouldn't yield any predictive option activity. However, the trader did say that some investors are buying calls in response to some encouraging news. A call option gives the buyer the right to purchase 100 shares of a stock for a specific price within a given period of time. ...