Earnings Week Fires Up as Semis Surge and Insiders Cash Out

US Market

A packed earnings week dominates the US tape. Palantir, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and Marriott all report today. Tomorrow's slate is heavier still — Caterpillar and McDonald's both drop at 12:30 ET. CAT is a key read on global industrial demand. MCD will signal whether the US consumer is holding up.

Options flow is firmly bullish on semiconductors. Micron Technology tops the positive bets leaderboard. Analysts see 81.7% upside. The stock is up 190% year-to-date and carries an ORTEX score of 95/100. Sandisk — up 443% in 2026 — draws two-sided positioning. Bulls and hedgers are both active. Tesla, down 28% YTD, attracts the third-highest put volume.

Short sellers are loading up on a handful of names. Solid Biosciences saw its SI % of free float jump nearly 8 points in one week to 39.6%. SoundHound AI sits at 42.7% with zero shares available to borrow — a squeeze setup if any catalyst hits.

Insiders are selling. Charles Schwab executives filed over $22M in sales last week. Citizens Financial CEO Bruce Van Saun sold $9.3M. Analysts cut Aptiv's target to $74.11 from $77.67. Henry Schein got the opposite treatment — its target rose to $94.56 from $89.31.

Europe & Global

HSBC resumed share buybacks after quarterly profits hit $10.1bn. BP is selling its $4bn US biogas business as profits more than doubled. Toyota announced a $6.3bn buyback, lifted by a weak yen. The US Treasury's yen intervention is drawing attention — markets see it as a signal of broader currency policy shift under Bessent.