Options in Motion: Exxon

The

Semiconductor Holders Trust

(SMH) - Get Report

topped the most active option list Friday.

The action was fueled by the recent earnings release of

National Semiconductor

(NSM)

and midquarter updates from

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

and

Texas Instruments

(TXN) - Get Report

. The September 35 puts have traded 25,000 times; the September 37.5 calls 27,000 times; the October 35 puts 22,000 times; and the November 37.5 puts 19,500 times. The holder was trading down 22 cents, or 0.59%, to $37.35.

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

had some activity in its September options after the company disappointed investors by narrowing its revenue forecast for the third quarter. The September 25 calls have traded 11,000 times and were down 80 cents. The September 25 puts have exchanged hands 12,000 times.

Siebel Systems

(SEBL)

saw bullish option activity. There were buyers of the September 10 calls 4,800 times and of the October 10 calls 24,000 times. The open interest for the strike coming into today was 4,400. The November 10 calls have traded 7,300 times and the January 2006 7.5 calls have traded 18,000 times. The stock was up 48 cents, or 5.53%, to $9.16.

Oracle

(ORCL) - Get Report

had a buyer of the October 13 puts 18,000 times. The open interest for that strike heading into today was 4,200. The stock was down 10 cents, or 0.75%, to $13.27.

Oil giant

Exxon Mobil

(XOM) - Get Report

saw heavy call buying in its January 2006 options. The 65 calls have traded 15,000 times and the 70 calls have traded over 27,000 contracts, which equals the open interest. The stock was up $1.20, or 1.96%, to $62.50.

Northwest Airlines

(NWAC)

saw the October 2.5/5 strangle trade 29,000 times. This is where someone buys the 2.5 puts and 5 calls simultaneously in the hopes of a large move in the stock. The stock was downs 2 cents, or 0.57%, to $3.50.

After a small run-up due to the hurricane, volatility seems to have been sucked out of the option market.

The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX), technically a measure of implied volatility based on the S&P 100 (OEX) options but a commonly used gauge of fear in the market, was recently down 5.8% to 12.18. Meanwhile, the CBOE Nasdaq Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of the Nasdaq 100, was down 1.77% to 14.44.