Earnings Season Dominates, Bears Circle Rentals

Major Earnings in Focus

Friday marks one of the busiest mornings of earnings season. ExxonMobil and Chevron both report today, with analysts expecting their strongest results in 15 quarters. Options flow is bullish on both names. Brent above $100 — driven by US-Iran tensions — gives energy bulls real momentum. AbbVie and Eaton also report this morning. META heads into its Q2 print with bearish options flow dominating. The stock is down 11% year-to-date and RSI sits at just 41.4.

Short Sellers Target Car Rentals

Bears are pressing hard on consumer names. Hertz short interest hit 84.6% of free float on July 30 — up nearly 10 points in a week. Avis Budget Group jumped from 29.1% to 36.2% in the same period. Short sellers are clearly betting the car rental sector faces structural trouble. Chewy also sits near record short levels at 82.4% of free float. Victoria's Secret saw a major shareholder dump over $97M in stock this week. That scale of selling is hard to ignore.

Europe: Volvo Gets a Vote of Confidence

Swedish investment firm Industrivärden bought $35M worth of AB Volvo shares on July 28. That is a significant inside bet on European industrials. Asian markets are also in focus. South Korean stocks soared 18% as investors returned to AI-linked names. Chipmakers globally rebounded to close out a tough month for the sector.

Analyst Moves

Datadog target lifted to $269.97. DexCom target jumped nearly $5 to $90.88. Builders FirstSource target was cut on housing pressure. Semiconductor names — led by Micron — are drawing the highest raw options volumes in the US market this week.