Oils, M&A, and Short Squeeze Friday

Big Earnings Day

Friday brings one of the heaviest earnings sessions of the year. ExxonMobil and Chevron both report this morning, facing pressure from softer crude prices. AbbVie releases pharma results at 9am ET — Skyrizi and Rinvoq are the numbers to watch. Power management play Eaton also reports. Analysts see it as a key read on AI infrastructure demand.

Chip M&A Sparks Options Action

The Financial Times reported that NXP Semiconductors is in talks to acquire AI chip designer Ambarella for around $3.3 billion. Ambarella makes camera chips for self-driving cars. The news triggered a sharp spike in call-buying as traders unwound short positions. AMBA carries 12.1% short interest. M&A bids in heavily shorted names tend to amplify the move.

Short Sellers Keep Grinding Rental Cars

Bears remain firmly in control of rental car stocks. Hertz short interest hit 84.6% of free float — up nearly 10 points in seven days. The stock is down 74% over three months. Avis Budget also saw shorts jump from 29.1% to 36.2% in a week. On the other side, e.l.f. Beauty saw a sharp unwind. SI dropped 41.8% in one week to 11.3% of free float.

Squeeze and Fear in Headline Names

Newell Brands spiked Friday. A short squeeze hit the 15.5%-shorted stock as earnings surprised. Granite Construction drew unusual options fear — its put/call ratio hit 0.84, the highest in 52 weeks and 4.3 standard deviations above its 20-day average. That level of options anxiety is rare.

Exec Selling Continues

Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson filed nearly $55M in share sales earlier this month. Charles Schwab founder Charles Schwab filed $20M in sales on July 28–29. Infrastructure analysts stayed positive: Oppenheimer upgraded EMCOR Group to Buy with a $1,200 target, citing US power grid spending tailwinds.