The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower Monday as a semiconductor rebound attempt ran out of steam. Chip stocks have been at the centre of the volatility. Bears have been active — options data shows heavy negative flow into Sandisk and Micron, with MU up 207% year-to-date and now carrying a large target on its back.
Earnings kept rolling in after the bell. Upwork beat on both lines, posting Q2 adjusted EPS of $0.41 against a $0.34 estimate. Plug Power offered full-year guidance ahead of consensus. AST SpaceMobile missed on headline numbers but saw its backlog grow to $1.3 billion.
OpenAI bought back $7 billion of employee shares in a tender offer, per Bloomberg. The move benefits indirectly as a major OpenAI backer and signals confidence in private AI valuations.
European stocks slid as geopolitical tension around Iran weighed on sentiment. Defense names bucked the trend after Ukraine ratified a $105 billion EU loan deal. On the corporate side, Dulux maker AkzoNobel surged after rejecting a $14.5 billion rival bid. That's a clear signal management sees fair value well above the offer price.
Cisco CSCO reports Wednesday. Markets are watching for enterprise AI spending signals. Analysts remain bullish on Datadog, lifting the consensus target to $283.74. Short sellers are still pressing beaten-down names — Wolfspeed sits at 81% SI % of FF and Hertz at 67.5%, with both showing near-zero borrow availability. Financials are drawing call buyers, with U.S. Bancorp and BNY Mellon hitting 100% positive options flow readings this week.
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.
