Bears, Buyers, and Billion-Dollar Bets

Bears Circle AI and Rentals

Short sellers hit the AI space hard this week. Cerebras Systems saw short interest rocket from 6.3% to 32.4% of free float in seven days. Availability has dropped to zero — there are no more shares left to borrow. SharonAI Holdings followed a similar path, with SI climbing from 7.6% to 26.6%. Avis Budget Group leads large-cap shorts at 47.8% of free float, up 7 points on the week.

Amazon Faces FTC Pressure

Amazon is staring down a potential FTC advertising lawsuit. Bloomberg Law reports the company could face billions in penalties. That adds regulatory risk to an already complex macro backdrop heading into summer.

Crude Draw Beats Estimates

API data showed a weekly crude oil stock draw of 8.33 million barrels. Estimates called for 4.5 million. Exxon Mobil is also in the news, reportedly set to supply LNG to South Africa as the country moves away from coal.

Cruise Sector Gets a Lift

Citi raised targets across the cruise sector Monday. Royal Caribbean moved to $362. Norwegian Cruise Line jumped to $25. Carnival Corporation hit $37. All three carry Buy ratings. The analyst calls signal growing confidence in leisure demand ahead of peak summer.

Earnings Week Begins

Progressive kicks off a busy earnings run with its May monthly figures tonight. CarMax reports Tuesday. It carries 11.5% short interest — one of the higher readings in consumer discretionary. Kroger follows Wednesday. Dell remains in focus after Silver Lake filed $873M in share sales last week.