Earnings, AI Chips, and Analyst Cuts Drive Monday Action

US Market Highlights

Earnings season is in full swing. Palantir and Vertex Pharmaceuticals both reported after the close. ON Semiconductor CEO confirmed AI data remains the fastest-growing part of the business. Short sellers should take note — ON carries an RSI of 39, suggesting oversold territory that could attract buyers.

The memory trade continued to dominate options flow. SanDisk and Micron drew two-sided bets. SNDK is up 412% year-to-date. Put buyers are circling. Jim Cramer called a recent sell-off a "clearing event" — SNDK and NBIS bounced following those comments.

On the analyst front, Truist cut Intuit to Hold from Buy, slashing the target $60 to $350. That is a notable move on an $86bn company. UBS raised targets on Goldman Sachs to $1,150 and on Capital One to $280 — both maintained at their respective ratings.

Insider selling remained heavy. Cenovus Energy CEO filed a $9M share sale. SkyWest executives filed over $8.7M in combined sales within 48 hours.

European Highlights

Fresenius Medical Care posted Q2 results today. Adjusted EPS of $0.66 beat estimates by two cents. Sales of $5.65bn missed slightly. The miss on revenues could weigh on the stock tomorrow.

Tomorrow's session brings a broader test. Caterpillar and McDonald's both report at 12:30 ET. Their results will give clues on industrial demand and consumer health globally.

Short interest extremes remain a watch item. Hertz sits at 80.9% SI of free float. EverCommerce carries the highest short score among $1bn+ stocks at 95.7. Cost to borrow is a punishing 57.8% APR.