Materials ETF Sees Bearish Options Trade

The Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE: XLB) is seeing some bearish options action today as 20,000 of the January 2011 30 puts were purchased. That trade was more than six times open interest in the strike and represents a bet the ETF will trade below $30 by early next year.

The trade wasn't tied to another options or stock trade today, so it is likely a straight bearish bet. XLB's top holdings are Monsanto (NYSE: MON) and Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW).