Dendreon shares are up only 1.4% before the closing bell at $32.46 and not even on any crazy volume.  But there was a new high today of $32.62.  So far we have seen more than 18,000 CALLS and more than 6,000 PUTS trade today… but again, expiration may be part of the issue here.

Myriad Genetics saw more than 3,000 CALLS trade, but 1,100 of those were in the MARCH 2010 $24.00 CALLS, almost $2.00 above today’s share price.  Myriad was up over 3% late in the day at $22.30, but its 52-week trading range is $20.62 to $47.08 and it traded about 150% of normal trading volume.

These ‘buyout rumors’ get tossed around far too liberally.  Today was options expiration date and lots of the ‘unusual activity’ is frequently nothing more than expiration roll-outs in the last few trading days of each month when options are expiring.  We’d also note that if there were genuine rumors of substance rather than of hope then you would be seeing much more than just a few thousand options contracts and more than 100% or 150% of normal volume.

Anything is possible, particularly in biotech.  But for traders to really be honing in on buyouts, there is generally far more interest than this.

Earnings is getting tiring and the world is tired of it…. That being said i am going to do an early preview and have it ONLY focused on the big retail names so that it is targeted.  That is the bulk of the earnings of big companies next week anyhow.