$Alphabet Inc.(GOOG)$ stock has been treading water for the past month. GOOG closed at $167.93 per share on Monday, about flat with the price on July 26 of $168.68, a month ago. It is only slightly lower since releasing its Q2 results on July 23 (closing the next day at $174.37).So it’s reasonable to take advantage of this lull, especially if you are already a shareholder in GOOG stock. The idea is to sell covered call in nearby expiry periods. DoJ Mulling Move to Break up Google Hurt Stock PerformanceThe U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly mulling plans to rein in Google's dominance in online search including a break up after a recent court ruling determined that the company monpolized the online search market.The potential breakup

$Meta Platforms, Inc.(META)$ shares surged 20.3% to a record high on Friday after issuing its first dividend days ahead of the 20th anniversary of its Facebook unit.There are 2.38 million Meta option contracts traded on Friday, 6.6 times higher than the equity's 90-day average volume. Option order flow sentiment implies that traders are wagering strong bullish bets in META stock on-balance. After converting the options volume into an equivalent number of META shares bought or sold, we can find that traders bought a net equivalent of 2,195,902 shares of META stock on Friday.Source: Market ChameleonShorting OTM Puts for META StockIn any case, short-put income plays are now very popular for shareholders. This is based on a contrarian reaction to

$Microsoft(MSFT)$ will report its Q2 FY24 earnings after the US markets close on 30 January. Analysts expect Microsoft’s revenues to come in at $61.144 billion. Adjusted earnings are likely to come in at about $2.775 per share, according to Bloomberg's unanimous expectations.Microsoft's management anticipates Azure's growth to reach 26% to 27% in the second quarter. The company continued its upward trajectory in January 2024, surpassing Apple to become the world's most valuable company with a market capitalization of $3.05 trillion. This reflects investor confidence in the future development of the artificial intelligence field.Recently, Microsoft announced the launch of Copilot Pro for the M365 Family and Personal edition, priced at $20 per month

Microsoft’s stock market value ended a trading session higher than Apple’s for the first time since 2021 on Jan 12, making it the world’s most valuable company as worries about demand hit the iPhone maker’s shares.Apple crept up 0.2 per cent on Jan 12, while Microsoft added 1 per cent. With that, Microsoft’s market capitalisation stood at US$2.887 trillion, its highest ever, according to LSEG data. Apple’s market capitalisation was US$2.875 trillion, calculated with data in a filing on Jan 11.Source: Tiger Trade AppWorries about smartphone demand have pushed Apple’s shares down 3 per cent so far in 2024 after rallying 48 per cent in 2023. Microsoft is up about 3 per cent year to date after surging 57 per cent in 2023 in a rally driven in part by its lead in generative artificial intelligen