The sharpest short interest move this week belongs to HTZ. Short interest jumped nearly 11 percentage points in seven days. It now stands at 59.2% of free float. Shares available to borrow have hit zero. CRWV (CoreWeave) is the other big bear target. Short interest rose to 28.4% of free float. Options markets back that up — bearish flow in AI infrastructure names is running high into the July 4th break. Ford's 41% drop in Q2 EV sales added to the downbeat mood in the options pits.
The biggest headline of the day is a reported $6.5 billion AI chip agreement between Samsung and META. Samsung is said to be following a similar deal it struck with TSLA. and also feature in the broader chip supply conversation. Meta's own "Watermelon" AI model reportedly matches OpenAI's GPT-5.5. Short interest in Meta remains thin at 1.4%.
Analysts downgraded IFF and CL on Thursday. Both are household-name consumer staples companies. The cuts add to a growing caution about defensive sectors in the second half of 2026. Citi also flagged that Brent crude could slide to $60 a barrel by year-end as US-Iran ceasefire conditions hold. That is a headwind for energy but a tailwind for cost-heavy consumer names.
Stefan Persson filed a $46.6M purchase in HM B on June 30. That is a meaningful vote of confidence from H&M's founding family. In macro news, Hormuz transits have quadrupled over the past week as tankers return to the waterway. Canada also unveiled plans for a new oil pipeline to reduce dependence on US exports.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
