Short sellers and options traders are aligned on semiconductors. NVDA leads negative options bets by raw dollar volume despite a 16.7% YTD gain. MU — up 226% this year — tops the negative options flow table as traders lock in protection at elevated prices. AMD shows heavy put activity too after a 117% YTD run. Short interest data backs the same trade: bears have piled in ahead of a major earnings week that features all three names. Klaviyo saw SI % of FF jump nearly 7 points in seven days to 19.9%, with chips and defense the clear short-side themes.
Leonardo DRS sold off sharply Friday while peers LHX, , and held steady. Its RSI dropped to 28.9 — near oversold territory. European stocks also slid this week, though the defense sector there rallied after Ukraine ratified a $105 billion EU loan deal. and report Tuesday. , , and follow later in the week.
Analysts are split on WDAY. Freedom Broker downgraded to Hold while Wells Fargo raised its target to $225. Autodesk drew more consistent praise — UBS, BNP Paribas, and the consensus all lifted targets on the same day, nudging to $315. Robinhood consensus targets also ticked higher, reflecting its ballooned $82B market cap.
Across the Atlantic, Lloyds CFO William Chalmers filed a $12.8M share sale on August 28. He sold over 8.4 million shares at £1.12. In the US, the founding Soloway family offloaded roughly $18.3M of NSSC stock in 48 hours — a significant cluster of insider selling worth monitoring. In macro news, France has replaced Italy as European bond investors' biggest concern, with Paris borrowing costs above Rome's for most of the summer.
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.
