Markets open August with a bearish tilt. Short sellers, analysts, and options traders all moved in the same direction this weekend — more caution, fewer longs.
Over 1,800 companies report this week. Palantir kicks things off today after the close. AMD, Caterpillar, and Merck follow Tuesday. Eli Lilly — the $1 trillion GLP-1 giant — headlines Wednesday. Investors are watching AI spending and drug pricing closely across every sector.
ORTEX data shows sharp short interest increases heading into the week. Chewy sits at 82.4% SI of free float. Hertz is at 84.6%, down 69% year-to-date and in deep oversold territory with an RSI of 26.7. jumped 11 points in a week to 43.7%. Bears are clearly positioning before results, not after.
Three downgrades landed over the weekend. Johnson Controls, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Zebra Technologies all received cuts. BMY's sell-to-buy ratio now stands at 9 vs 8. Amazon was the bright spot — its consensus target lifted to $321.95 with near-universal buy support from 59 analysts.
Charles R. Schwab filed $20.8 million in sales at SCHW across three transactions. Medpace insiders filed over $8.8 million in sells in a single day. Not all insiders are selling — Albertsons saw buyers step in with $2.4 million in purchases at $11.51 per share.
Flight attendants at WestJet walked out today over a pay dispute. Air Canada may benefit from redirected passengers but the broader travel sector faces fresh uncertainty heading into peak summer.
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.
