Stock and option traders have had a roller-coaster month of September. Volatility in the market and sector movements have made quite a number of stocks very much in the options trading ambit. Here let us look at the two most important indices and mention some of the stocks people have been discussing most recently.

Tech Titans Leading the Charge

It should not come as a shock that giants in the industry, such as Apple and Microsoft, have been leading the pack. Given that new products are being launched and quarterly earnings are being released, the trade in the market with such stocks have gotten a bit busier. I happen to recall a conversation with a friend with whom recollected is the same kind of operation whereby he was holding out Apple calls only; he was quite confident of making a lot of money as there was an important event – new iPhone announcement. Warning ahead: they did make the money.

Healthcare Stocks in the Spotlight

Healthcare has also been a hotbed of activity. Companies like Pfizer and Moderna have seen increased options trading, especially with ongoing developments in vaccines and treatments. A colleague of mine, who’s a bit of a biotech enthusiast, was thrilled to see his Pfizer puts gain value as the stock dipped on some mixed trial results.

Financials Making a Comeback

Financial stocks have been interesting to watch. Banks like JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs have experienced high options volume, driven by interest rate changes and economic data releases. I had a hunch about JP Morgan and bought some calls just before their earnings report. It was a nail-biter, but the stock jumped, and those calls were golden!

Energy Sector Heating Up

The energy sector has been buzzing too. Due to the volatility of the oil market, trading options on companies shares such as Exxon and Chevron has also doubled up. I have a buddy who plays the oil market which by the way also happens to be his occupation. He capitalized too heavily on call options that he purchased Chevron after the surprise jump in oil prices.

Buckle up, tech fans! Microsoft just unveiled a brand new kind of Windows PC at their fancy new digs, and it's all about AI. They're calling them Copilot+ PCs, and let me tell you, these machines are seriously brainy.

Here's the lowdown:

Super Speed: Copilot+ PCs blow the doors off other laptops. Ditch the charger anxiety! Copilot+ PCs boast mind-bending speed (over 40 trillion operations per second!), leaving even the latest MacBook Air in the dust. And the best part? You still get all-day battery life.

AI Smarts: These PCs aren't just speedy; they're brainiacs. Imagine a computer that remembers everything you've ever seen on it, helps you find anything instantly, and even creates cool AI images for you. That's the magic of Copilot+. Plus, it translates conversations in real-time, so language barriers become a thing of the past.

Style Meets Smarts: Copilot+ PCs come in a variety of styles, with options from Microsoft's Surface line and leading brands like Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung. Pre-orders are available now with prices starting at $999, and general availability begins June 18th.

What are the top five Stocks that all investors should own in 2017? If you ask an investor this question, they will likely tell you to choose Dow Jones Industrial Average stocks. The Dow Jones is made up of 30 of the largest companies in America.

These companies have a solid history of strong performances and they tend to pay excellent dividends. This is why anybody should add it to their retirement portfolio.

If you cannot invest in the 30 components of the Dow, there are different ways to approach the situation. You can lean towards a tech, healthcare or financial based portfolio because the companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Average operate in those sectors. ETFs have also become a popular way to invest in the sectors for the Dow.

Microsoft reported its 3rd quarter results tonight, beating analyst estimates with stronger sales in cloud services, tablets, and software. Windows sales were soft during the period. Revenue beat estimates at $21.7 million, an improvement of 6% when compared to the same quarter last year. Earnings beat by 10 cents, coming in at 61 cents a share.

Microsoft touted its cloud services as evidence that companies are moving away from server based technologies to its cloud products. Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, also mentioned the upcoming Build developers conference as something we should look forward to, to see more cloud products from the company.

The official figures for Microsoft's fourth quarter of 2010 are out which is 16.04 billion US Dollars. With the announcement by Apple last Tuesday, it was expected in several quarters of the country that Apple would over take Microsoft in the net revenue generation and that would be the first time in the recent history. But Microsoft proved most of them wrong. Though Apple had reported 15.7 billion US Dollar last quarter, Microsoft crossed that with ease at 16.04 billion US dollar.