Earnings Week Puts Markets on Edge

This week is one of the busiest on the earnings calendar. Traders are positioning defensively across options, short interest, and insider activity alike.

Earnings in Focus

Berkshire Hathaway opens the week today with Q2 results. Cisco Systems reports Wednesday after the bell — the biggest name of the week at $476 billion market cap. Applied Materials follows on Thursday. The concentrated earnings schedule is driving a sharp rise in defensive positioning across markets.

Bears Piling In

Short sellers and options traders are moving in the same direction. SMCI is attracting the most attention. It carries a short score of 64 and heavy put activity ahead of its quarterly print. AMD is up 128% year-to-date, yet put buying is rising fast. Micron Technology — up 209% in 2026 — is also seeing negative options flow, signalling fears of a pullback. Wolfspeed remains the most extreme short: 78.3% of free float sold short, zero availability, no easy exit for bears.

Analysts Split on Sectors

Biopharma targets moved higher. AbbVie and Amgen both saw consensus price targets lifted today. On the other side, Fidelity National Information Services took a cut, with its average target dropping to $51.09.

Insider Sales Dominate

The biggest filing of the day came from Illumina, where a board member filed $148M in sales across August 4–5. Across the Atlantic, NEXT plc executives filed over $42M in disposals on August 7, covering trades made on August 5 and 6. Insider selling is broad and crosses both regions today.