Barring the unlikely event that another suitor may step in and start a bidding war, investors buying at these levels will likely see ILMN drift down to as low as $50 over the next 6-7 months. Eventually if they have managed to hold on, they will have the opportunity to tender their shares at a price almost as high as the current market prices.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) by Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is one of the biggest M&A deals in the tech space for 2011. At or right before the closing of the deal, the $39 calls will be worth $1.00 (as Google is buying MMI for $40 a share) giving the call buyers a nice return of $.35 for the calls they bought for $.65.

In an article July 12, I forecasted the beginning of a bear market. The market averages have dropped over 10% since. The one safe-haven for investors has been gold - whether in its physical form (bullion) or as a security via the many ETFs tracking it, or even the shares of gold miners - gold has seen a meteoric rise over the past month, as the equity markets were getting crushed.