As I promised in my November Options Expiration Update two days ago, I am providing this update on Western Union (NYSE: WU) today since it is the only open short put position we have left expiring this month. It’s been a busy two days for the media relations department at Western Union, which issued a pair of major announcements that pushed its share price back above $18 this morning.

On Wednesday, the company announced that it will partner with e-commerce giant Amazon.com “to launch a new payment option that allows international shoppers to pay in person, in local currency where available, for their online purchases.” The press release went on to state that “cross-border shopping will make up 20% of e-commerce by 2022, with sales reaching $630 billion.”

The following day, Western Union released Q3 results that included an earnings beat and increased guidance for EPS for the remainder of the year. However, total revenue declined by 1% YOY (year over year), but increased 3% on a constant currency basis. Also, the company’s operating profit margin expanded to 21.8%.

I am pleased to see WU react positively to this news, but I am disappointed that the response wasn’t stronger. The partnership with Amazon is potentially a huge deal, and the quarterly report confirmed that the company’s aggressive migration towards the C2C (consumer to consumer) market is unfolding as planned.

With two weeks left until expiration, we are essentially at break-even with this trade. This morning, the bid/ask for our $19 put option was 0.75/0.90, and we sold it at a limit price of 0.80 or better. That being the case, you have two choices: buy back that option now at no gain or loss to eliminate the possibility of having the stock put to within the next two weeks, or let it ride to see if WU can get back above $19 by expiration.

Right now, my intention is to continue to hold WU in the Income Millionaire portfolio through expiration, but if it spikes up and we can buy it back at a profit then I will issue an Alert to that effect.

Complicating matters is next week’s midterm elections, which could rile the markets for a while if Wall Street is not happy with the outcome. If the stock market sells off next week then it is unlikely that WU will be able to make much headway by November 16. On the other hand, if the stock market rallies then WU could end up closing above our $19 strike price by expiration.