Earnings, Short Squeeze Risks, and Insider Moves Define the Week

US Earnings in Focus

NKE reports Q4 2026 results Monday after the close. It is the marquee event of the week. Options traders are active around the July 2 expiry. Short interest sits at 5.1% of free float. Borrow availability is extremely high at 915% of SI. Bears can still pile in cheaply. STZ and GIS also report Monday. General Mills carries 10% SI % FF — one of the higher readings among large-cap consumer names.

Short Sellers Press Hard

Wolfspeed remains the most extreme short in the market. SI % FF hit 130%, up 27 points in a week. Zero shares are available to borrow. Any positive catalyst could trigger a violent squeeze. Restaurant Brands International saw its SI % FF more than double, from 6.6% to 14.8%. That is a sharp move for a large-cap name. Frontier Group and Lucid Group also saw short interest climb steeply.

Analysts Back Airlines and Chips

Wall Street raised targets on Delta Air Lines and United Airlines Holdings Friday. Delta's consensus target moved to $86.41. Applied Materials got a target boost to $740 from Wells Fargo, maintaining a Buy. SI % FF on AMAT is just 2.7% — bulls are firmly in control there.

Insiders Buy, Others Cash Out

ASTS CEO Abel Avellan filed a $147M share sale on June 23. At the same time, John Malone filed over $7.8M in purchases of LILA. An NVDA director also filed a $186M sale. The ASTS CEO exit stands out given surging short interest — bears and sellers are aligned.

Europe: EasyJet in Play

EasyJet rejected a £4.9bn takeover offer from US private credit group Castlelake and is now in talks. Oil dropped back below pre-Iran-conflict levels, easing pressure across energy-exposed names.