Earnings Barrage Meets Oil Shock and Iran Tensions

Biggest Week of Earnings Season

GOOGL reports after the close today, kicking off the most crowded earnings week of the year. IBM and TXN also report today. Wednesday brings INTC and RTX. Investors are watching AI revenue at Alphabet closely. RTX faces questions on tariff costs. AXP follows Thursday with consumer spending trends in focus. Analysts trimmed DHR targets by $11 today. GM bucked the trend with a small target upgrade to $97.35.

Oil Spike Hits Markets

US petrol prices have climbed back above $4 as the Iran conflict intensifies. Oil briefly touched $90 after Iran struck tankers. Prices pulled back after Tehran signalled it received peace proposals from mediators. The move rattled energy traders and stoked inflation fears ahead of what is already a tense macro week. Anthony Scaramucci flagged the US's $55 trillion deficit as a reason to hold gold and Bitcoin.

Europe: Equinor Misses, China Buys

EQNR reported Q2 adjusted EPS of $1.33, missing the $1.39 estimate. Revenue came in at $34.0bn, below the $35.3bn forecast. The miss adds to pressure on European energy names. Separately, China's state funds bought $9bn of domestic equities after a sharp AI-linked sell-off last week, giving a floor to Chinese tech.

Chips Diverge on Options and Shorts

Sandisk drew the largest bearish options bets among large caps this week. Its stock is up 486% year-to-date. Micron also attracted heavy put activity. On the short side, WOLF remains the most shorted US stock at 79.3% of free float. No shares are available to borrow. Semiconductor bulls and bears are pulling in opposite directions as earnings season hits peak intensity.