date:Jul 17, 2012
Buying bearish options on Tyson Foods Inc. (TSN) and Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD)--whose animals feast on corn--was one way of doing so.
Traders snapped up protective put options on packaged-meat producers that are especially sensitive to the price of corn feed. Activity suggests traders fear continued weakness in the shares as the corn-crop situation becomes more precarious.
One trader in poultry packager Tyson Foods' options picked up about 1,000 August $16 put options for 70 cents a share in a