Chips, Squeezes & Big Sales: Friday Snapshot

US Market Highlights

Chip stocks dominated analyst activity today. Micron saw its consensus price target lifted to $1,410. Applied Materials got a direct Buy reiteration from Wells Fargo, with a new $740 target. Both names carry thin short interest — bears are not picking a fight with semis right now. NVDA options meanwhile show the widest expiry ladder on the market, running from June 29 through September 18. That signals deep institutional positioning across multiple timeframes.

Lucid Group is flashing a short squeeze alert. SI jumped 7 points to 39% of free float this week. Cost to borrow tripled to 78% APR. Available shares to borrow sit at just 0.12%. A 16% price surge has already hurt bears. Wolfspeed remains the most extreme case — SI at 130% of free float with zero shares left to borrow.

Earnings season opens this week. Nike reports Q4 2026 results today after the close. Constellation Brands also posts tonight. General Mills follows Tuesday, with SI at 10% of free float — the most heavily shorted of the trio.

Two large insider sales filed this week. ASTS CEO Abel Avellan sold $147M in shares. NVDA director Mark Stevens offloaded over $186M across two transactions at prices near $210.

European Highlights

Oil fell back below pre-Iran-conflict levels as Gulf supplies picked up. Brent dropped under $72.50 per barrel. Polish broker XTB slipped 5%, though short sellers have largely stayed on the sidelines. In Sweden, Evolution AB saw Capital Group dump $810M in shares — one of the largest single European insider-linked filings of the week. Bitcoin dropped below $60,000 as retail investors rotated toward AI-related equities.