Short sellers drove several of the day's biggest moves. CoreWeave saw its short interest climb 40% in a week to 17.9% of free float, as bears build positions against the AI infrastructure play. Chewy carries an even heavier load at 52.3% of free float, up 4.6 percentage points in seven days.
Chips remain the flashpoint. Semiconductor stocks drew the heaviest options activity, with Micron and Broadcom both seeing negative bets pile up. Broadcom's RSI dropped to 37.5 — deep in oversold territory — while AMD skews toward puts ahead of upcoming earnings.
Analysts added pressure on consumer and tech names. Lululemon absorbed two cuts in a single session. Morgan Stanley moved to Sell with a target of $83. Bank of America trimmed to Hold at $122. saw the steepest target cut of the day from Citigroup.
On the insider front, a 13D amended filing showed Gap shareholder John J. Fisher distributed 6.8 million GAP shares, dropping beneficial ownership to 13%. An analyst also flagged today that the Fed "really should" raise rates this month, sending Bitcoin lower.
The biggest macro story of the day comes from Europe. Norway's $2 trillion oil fund manager proposed slashing US Treasury holdings — a major shift in one of the world's largest sovereign wealth pools. That move hit bond markets and added pressure on dollar assets globally.
The euro diesel crack spread hit a record above $100 a barrel — more than double the cost of underlying crude. That's a supply crunch with direct implications for European energy costs heading into autumn.
In pharma, Novartis suffered a Phase III setback. Its Lp(a)HORIZON trial for pelacarsen failed its primary cardiovascular endpoint. The drug lowered Lp(a) levels but did not reduce CV events — a blow to its cardiovascular pipeline and a negative read for partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals.
The reporting calendar heats up Monday. GameStop, Braze, and ServiceTitan all report after the US close on September 8.
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.
