Here are the stocks seeing a bias toward put activity on Thursday. This filtered scan is based on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) buy-to-open data. It looks for stocks where the previous day's put volume on the ISE is at least twice as great as the call volume. It then sorts the stocks based on the put volume. Since this is buy-to-open data, this can be a good source for finding stocks where skepticism is emerging. Of particular interest to me would be situations where we see put activity on stocks that are still in intermediate-term uptrends. This would be a potentially encouraging sign from the contrarian perspective.

Companies included in today's scan results: SPDR Trust Series I (SPY), PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQQ), Abercrombie & Fitch Co (ANF), Palm Inc (PALM), LDK Solar Co Ltd (LDK), Home Depot (HD), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN), Express Scripts (ESRX), Altera Corp. (ALTR), AAR (AIR), McDonald's (MCD), Oshkosh Truck (OSK), Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN), Chico's FAS (CHS), Juniper Networks (JNPR), Helmerich & Payne (HP), Mohawk Industries (MHK), Starbucks Corp (SBUX), Paychex (PAYX), Comerica Incorporated (CMA), Gamestop Corp (GME), FedEx Corp. (FDX), Weatherford International (WFT), Dress Barn (DBRN), Steel Dynamics (STLD).

Palm Inc, Amazon.com Inc, LDK Solar, and Abercrombie & Fitch Co are the situations that stood out to me -

• The activity on Palm continues what I touched on yesterday morning. As Elizabeth Harrow then discussed, the activity came ahead of earnings. The shares are bid up 10% in pre-open action here. Another point to keep in mind is the potential for short covering to exacerbate volatility. According to data collected by our Quantified Analysis group, 32% of the stock's float is sold short.
• On Tuesday I noted the ongoing skepticism on Amazon.com and the activity below just adds to that. With yesterday's rally the stock is starting to bounce out of the oversold condition.
• LDK Solar is a volatile but interesting contrarian situation. The daily chart shows a steady a pattern of higher lows in place since March. The area near 16 looks to be potential resistance but that is nearly 40% above the current price.
• Abercrombie & Fitch saw heavy put buys on the International Securities Exchange (ISE). The activity comes at a key point in the chart activity. The equity struggled to break above the zone near 25 and has now pulled back to retest this former resistance as support. Joe Hargett covered the option activity yesterday. From my perspective, the most interesting scenario would be if the stock can start to bounce from support. That could set the stage for catching some skeptics off guard.