Retail sales data is flashing green this morning. The Redbook index rose 9.1% year-over-year for the week ended August 22. The August-vs-August read came in at 8.4% YoY. Consumer spending looks resilient heading into the back half of earnings season.
Bond market tension is also building. Top economists are warning that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's yield-curve strategy risks distorting a key market signal. The concern is spreading across rates and equity markets alike.
Wednesday's NVDA report is the event the market has been circling for weeks. The chip giant carries a $5.2 trillion market cap. Expectations are sky-high after a year of AI-driven outperformance. Options flow shows bearish hedges sitting alongside MRVL, which also reports Thursday. Any disappointment from either name could ripple through semiconductors fast.
SNPS and HPQ also report Wednesday. Synopsys just received a fresh Buy and a $575 target from Rosenblatt today.
JP Morgan raised its target on PANW to $384, maintaining Overweight. Evercore lifted META to $860, keeping its Outperform rating. Both moves signal continued conviction in large-cap tech ahead of NVIDIA's print.
FIS took the other path. The payments firm lost its Buy rating. Consensus target slipped to $50.52.
XPEV hit a 12-month low today. Short covering is accelerating and call buyers are piling in. That combination often marks a floor. SHAK tells a similar story — short covering is driving the burger chain higher alongside heavy call buying.
RDDT short interest climbed to 17.4% of free float this week, up 3.6 percentage points. Bears keep adding to the $22 billion social platform.
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.
