Options Exchange Investigates VLSI Trading

The Chicago Board Options Exchange is investigating the trading of options on VLSI Technology Inc. stock after the company said it will shut down production at a California plant and fire 300 employees. The number of trades in call options of VLSI stock jumped Thursday before the company’s announcement was made, after the close of U.S. trading. Shares rose $4.50 to $25 on Nasdaq. “We will be doing a routine review of the options trading” of VLSI stock, a CBOE spokesman said. The exchange investigates “whenever there is any kind of major announcement or movement in the stock price,” he said. A spokesman for the San Jose-based company, which makes chips for telecommunications products, said he wasn’t aware of the probe and couldn’t comment.