Schaeffer's Daily Market Blog Features Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Symantec, United Utilities, Sirius Satellite Radio, and KFx, Inc.

CINCINNATI -- Among the stocks featured in the April 18 edition of Schaeffer's Market Blog are Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE:MSO) Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC), United Utilities (NYSE:UU), Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI), and KFx, Inc. (NYSE:KFX). Schaeffer's Market Blog is just one of the many free market commentaries written every day at www.SchaeffersResearch.com - the home of Bernie Schaeffer and Schaeffer's Investment Research. The Market Blog is written throughout every trading day by Schaeffer's financial analysts and traders. They are quick insights to the day's most notable market activity from an options perspective. For additional information about this report or to have it delivered to you free via email every day click on the following link. http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1M&PAGE=1.

Schaeffer's Market Blog for Monday, April 18, 2005:

Below are just a few of today's Market Blog entries. Click here to read all of today's Market Blog. http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1C&PAGE=1.

11:30 AM Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Sirius Satellite Radio Announce Deal

This morning, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE:MSO) and Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ:SIRI) confirmed a deal that will give Martha Stewart her own 24-hours-a-day, seven days-a-week radio channel on SIRI. Ms. Stewart's multimedia portfolio now includes two television shows, five magazines, and numerous retail products. The channel on SIRI will give listeners original programming that is specifically tailored to the needs of women listeners and their families. Both stocks are trading higher on the news. At last check, MSO was 75 cents higher to $20.32 and SIRI was eight cents higher to $5.24.

1:44 PM Symantec Upgrade

Today's Symantec (NASDAQ:SYMC) upgrade from Deutsche Bank hasn't done much to excite investors. The shares made a new 52-week low before inching back into positive territory. SYMC is currently up about half a percent. Short-term optimism could be one reason for the pullback. Front-month option activity includes 7,390 contracts of call volume compared with only 452 contracts of put volume. Such a large skew could cause the SYMC to weaken in the near term. Prior to this upgrade, there were 11 "buy" ratings, 16 "hold" ratings, and one "sell" rating. The stock's short-interest ratio is at 4.18, and the number of shares sold short has more than tripled in the past four months.

2:23 PM Puts Active on Bank Index

Put activity is heavy today on the PHLX Bank Index (BKX) even though the index has been moving higher during most of today's trading session. BKX is currently at 95.61, up 1.07, or 1.13 percent. It has trended lower, and the activity may be largely related to hedging. Portfolio managers could be trying to protect their positions within the financial sector by buying puts instead of selling shares of stock.

2:36 PM Rewind the Clock

It looks a little bit like February, as the leading groups are steel, chemicals, metals, and energy. If you remember back, those groups went nearly vertical back in February, but the past few months, and especially the past few weeks, they have been mostly been punished. Sure, energy has been hit less than the rest, but even that has been pretty weak the past two weeks. On the upside today I've noticed some water companies perking up. When you talk defensive, a water utility is about as defensive as you can get. Should the market continue to go south, the nice thing about these companies is they pay a good yield and will be viewed as a place to rotate some money in a sell-off. Check out United Utilities (NYSE:UU) and Consolidated Water (CWCO) for some leaders in this area.

2:40 PM A Synthetic Long on KFx, Inc.

According to Hoover's, KFx, Inc. (NYSE:KFX) is fueling the advancement of efficient power generation. The company has patented a process (K-Fuel Technology) that uses heat and pressure to transform low-energy-value coal and other feedstocks into high-energy clean fuel. The company is currently developing its first K-Fuel commercial plant in Wyoming, with coal supplied by Arch Mineral.

On Friday the company had some unusual call activity. Its June 10 call (KFX FB) traded just over 10,000 calls. This is more than six times the average daily volume for all calls with less than three months to expiration. Interestingly, the stock's June 10 put (KFX RB) was also active, with nearly 9,800 contracts changing hands Friday. Most of the KFX FB volume traded in one 3,000-contract trade at 10:37 a.m. Eastern time and several large block trades at 12:54 p.m. eastern time. The trades executed closer to the ask price at 2.75 and 2.65, suggesting the trades were purchases. The KFX RB option saw identically-sized trades execute at the same time. These trades went off closer to the bid at 0.60, suggesting these trades were sales. Open interest on these options was 3,367 contracts and 799 contracts, respectively. Thus the trades on both options could be the initiation of new positions. If both are new positions, the trades could be the initiation of a synthetic long - the selling of puts coupled with the bullish purchases of calls. KFX ended Friday down 5.97 percent at 11.34. The stock has rebounded today and is up 0.97 percent to 11.45.

The above are just a few of today's Daily Market Blog entries. Click here to read all of today's Daily Market Blog. http://www.schaeffersresearch.com/redirect.aspx?CODE=PROB1C&PAGE=1.

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About Schaeffer's Investment Research (www.SchaeffersResearch.com)

Schaeffer's Investment Research, founded by Bernie Schaeffer in 1981, is a financial information and trading resources company. It publishes Bernie Schaeffer's Option Advisor, the nation's leading options subscription newsletter. The firm's contrarian approach focuses on stocks with technical and fundamental trends that run counter to investor expectations. The firm's website, http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com, is recognized as one of the leading information sources for stock and options traders and was cited as the top options website by both Forbes and Barron's. Click here for more details about Schaeffer's trading methodology: http://www.SchaeffersResearch.com/method.