Options Traders Busy at Newmont Mining Corp.

Today’s tickers: NEM, CALM, XRX, MCD, AEIS & JNPR NEM  - Newmont Mining Corp. –  The gold producer’s shares started strong this morning, but earlier gains quickly gave way to losses and shares are currently down 3.00% to stand at $60.75 as of 3:25 pm in New York. Options on gold companies as well as options on a number of ETFs tracking miners and gold producers were very active today after gold prices climbed to new highs this morning. During the first couple of hours of the session one bullish trader utilized long-dated call options to position for Newmont Mining’s shares to potentially rally to new heights by expiration in January 2012. The investor purchased 5,800 deep in-the-money calls at the January 2012 $57.5 strike for a premium of $12.23 each, and sold the same number of calls at the higher January 2012 $67.5 strike at a premium of $7.53 apiece. The net cost of putting on the spread amounts to $4.70 per contract. The trader is therefore prepared to make money should NEM’s shares trade above the average breakeven price of $62.20 through January 2012 expiration. Maximum potential profits of $5.30 per contract pad the investor’s wallet if Newmont’s shares jump 11.1% over the current price of $60.75 to surpass $67.50 ahead of expiration day. CALM  - Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. –  Options on the largest egg seller and distributor in the U.S. are more active than usual today perhaps on news the Jackson, Mississippi-based firm recalled more than a quarter of a million eggs purchased from Ohio Fresh Eggs because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. Cal-Maine Foods was reportedly alerted to contamination issues with the eggs by the FDA this past Friday. CALM’s shares reacted positively to the news this week, rallying more than 12.0% off Monday’s intraday low…