Options Market Statistics: Used Car Retailer Carvana Spiked Amid the Approaching UAW Strike Deadline, Options Pop

The UAW and $Ford Motor(F.US)$, $General Motors(GM.US)$, and $Stellantis NV(STLA.US)$ remain far apart ahead of the contract expiration at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time today.

"This case is about the future of the internet, and whether Google's search engine will ever face meaningful competition," Justice Department lawyer Kenneth Dintzer told the court. He said Google pays more than $10 billion a year to $Apple(AAPL.US)$ and other companies to ensure Google is the default or only search engine available on browsers and mobile devices used by millions of consumers.

JPMorgan analyst Rajat Gupta said a strike would help support retail demand for car dealers and pricing in the near term, although it would lead to potentially crippling supply shortages in the market and could create more affordability issues to prolong what is already a slow recovery. The UAW strike and broad macroeconomic backdrop has Gupta and team with a relatively unfavorable view on $CarMax(KMX.US)$ and Carvana.

Meanwhile, B2B marketplace players such as $ACV Auctions(ACVA.US)$ and $OPENLANE(KAR.US)$ are seen potentially keeping up their recent momentum in auction conversion with further impetus from industry used price stabilization and ongoing fee increases, although the strike could lead to depleted supply and higher prices further down the road. For B2C players such as $CarGurus(CARG.US)$, $Cars.com(CARS.US)$ , and $TrueCar(TRUE.US)$, a strike is seen delaying ongoing pricing initiatives and slowing the cyclical recovery, though subscription-based revenue streams are expected to help cushion the revenue impact to a degree.

Some notable put activity is being seen in $Nikola(NKLA.US)$, which is primarily being driven by activity on the September 22nd 2.50 put. Volume on this contract is 40,035 versus open interest of 233, so it's likely that nearly all of the volume represents fresh positioning.