Megacap Week: Tech on Trial as Alphabet Bleeds $294B

Alphabet's Brutal Session

GOOGL suffered a $294 billion single-day market cap wipeout. That is one of the largest one-day destruction events in market history. The scale puts the loss at nearly the entire value of Palantir. The rout dragged META, MSFT, and AMZN into the crossfire. All four report earnings this week, with Microsoft dropping results Wednesday evening. Apple and Amazon follow Thursday after the bell.

Options Bears Circle Big Tech

The options market is pricing in more pain. Negative bets have piled into mega-cap tech ahead of earnings. TSLA sits at an RSI of 29.1 — deep in oversold territory. The stock is down 28.9% year-to-date. Any earnings surprise could trigger sharp call-side repricing. MSFT is off 21% year-to-date and carries elevated put activity despite analysts flagging 45% upside.

Short Sellers and Analyst Moves

Bears are pressing hard on HTZ and CHWY. Hertz short interest hit 75% of free float. Chewy sits at 72.4%. Both names face fundamental headwinds. On the analyst front, INTC saw its consensus target jump to $114.33. LMT also received an upward revision. DECK moved the other way — analysts slashed forecasts following Q1 results.

Verizon Adds a Positive Note

VZ provided a bright spot. The CEO said AI models now fix network issues in minutes instead of hours. Management also guided for 3% year-on-year Q3 revenue growth. Crypto-linked names came under pressure as MSTR broke below $100 support with analysts eyeing a potential drop to $30.