The iShares High-Yield Corporate Bond Fund doesn't show up on our tracking systems often, but yesterday it saw heavy option activity that signaled bullish sentiment toward the market.

Traders focused primarily on a select few strikes, starting with the June 95 calls, according to OptionMonster's tracking systems. They then shifted to the January 94 calls, which were sold, while the February 95 calls were bought as a bullish position was adjusted.

Calls lock in the price where investors can buy shares in the fund, so if it goes up those contracts will generate some nice leverage. But these options will also expire worthless if the stock fails to move by their expiration dates.

Capital One is ready to move beyond its year of acquisitions, cut expenses and reward investors, according to Goldman Sachs analyst Ryan Nash.

Credit card stocks are in a sweet spot, according to Nash, who said in a report on Sunday that "valuations remain very attractive," and that he expected the group to "see further outperformance in 2013," because "credit losses remain below normalized levels" and "superior capital generation drives higher capital returns for the group, with payouts surpassing 100 percent for some."

With the nation's largest banks now submitting their 2013 capital plans to the Federal Reserve as part of the regulator's annual stress tests, Nash said that card lenders "are in the best positions for returning capital," as the group has "a higher starting point, with an average Tier 1 common ratio of 12.4 percent (banks are at about 10.0 percent) and this matters greatly for these stocks as the cards generate capital much more quickly than the banks (260 bps vs. 75-90bp at banks on an annual basis)."

Buy-and-hold investors have crushed it with Intel. Granted, if you bought during the dot-com bubble during 2000, your portfolio may still be upside down, but maybe not depending on your use of option hedging and dividend reinvestment strategies.

Investors from $28+ in 2012 are enjoying a fat and rising dividend, while waiting for capital gains. For investors considering adding more shares or entering a new position, right now is an exciting time.

The earnings release is this week, and you can exploit elevated option premium to enhance your entry while at the same time lowering your risk.

Lowe's shares have never reached $40, but one long-term trader is betting that they will climb to that level by early next year.

OptionMonster's tracking systems detected the purchase of 5,000 January 2014 40 calls for $1.66 on Friday. The volume was almost five times the open interest at that strike before trading began, so this is clearly fresh buying.

Those calls lock in the price where investors can buy shares in the home-improvement chain. The options can generate significant leverage in a rally because of their relatively low cost, but their value will melt away over time if the stock fails to perform.

Banks are valued below historical norms and the worst of the new financial regulations are already done, and that has banking analyst Gerard Cassidy upbeat about bank stocks.

"We were bullish all of last year," Cassidy, of RBC Capital Markets, told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "We continue to be bullish this year due to the continuing improvement in earnings, coming from credit improvement and also loan growth."

It's earnings season, and that means that good times are here again for income investors.

The past couple of months have been a tumultuous time to be an income investor. The biggest challenge came from the "fiscal cliff" debacle, which threatened to smash real income returns with a dramatic increase in tax rates on dividend income. A last-minute agreement spared investors of that threat for 2013 — even if dividend rates increased for the top 2 percent of earners, it beats what would have happened had the old tax laws just expired.

Now earnings season is offering up some extra upside.

Traders have been bargain-hunting in the mining space, and yesterday they turned to Barrick Gold.

OptionMonster's tracking programs showed the heavy volume in the April 39 calls, with large blocks pricing for $0.63. More than 13,700 contracts traded by the end of the session, compared with previous open interest of just 3,832, so these are new positions.

Calls lock in the price where investors can buy shares. They can generate significant leverage to their underlying share price because options are much cheaper than stock. But if the shares don't move, these contracts can also expire worthless.

Tiffany's announcement that sales during the crucial holiday period were unchanged from last year sent the stock lower on Thursday, but one analyst said the stock has bottomed and that it could be "poised to bounce pretty nicely."

The luxury jeweler reported flat same-store sales during November and December and said fiscal-year earnings will be towards the low end of its prior range of $3.20 to $3.40 per share, compared to Street estimates of $3.26 a share.

The lackluster numbers are especially crucial because the holiday period can account for nearly half of the jewelers' profit and one-third of annual sales.

Despite the disappointing update, Brian Nagel, a senior analyst at Oppenheimer, told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that he has an "outperform" rating and a $75 price target on the company's shares.

Ford Motor said Thursday it will double its dividend as the U.S. auto industry continues on its long march back to blue-chip investment status.

Ford's board declared a first-quarter dividend of 10 cents a share on outstanding Class B and common stock, doubling the nickel a share it paid in each quarter of 2012. The automaker said it plans "to grow its dividend, consistent with earnings and liquidity growth, to a level that is sustainable through all business cycles."

The move comes just nine months after Ford restored its dividend in March, after a period of more than five years in which it paid no dividend at all.

Trending tech stocks always generate a lot of interest. When the trending stock is called Facebook, everyone pays attention. Facebook is generating considerable free publicity for its upcoming "come and see what we're building" press event next week.

I'm sorry if I am not overly excited and counting the hours until Facebook spills the beans, but this isn't my first rodeo. In fact, if I recall correctly, original initial public offering investors are still down 20 percent from the IPO price. Maybe the stock has gained enough from the recent lows that it almost feels like winning, but Facebook has yet to show it is able to do more than sell stock.

Facebook shares many of the characteristics of Amazon.com, Pandora Media, and LinkedIn. They are great from a user point of view, but these companies have not demonstrated an ability to generate a reasonable return on equity.