Bears Flee NKE, GME — But CHWY Feels the Squeeze

Short sellers ran for the exits on two major names this week. NKE short interest plunged 72% in just seven days. Bears slashed their position to just 0.36% of float ahead of Tuesday's earnings print. GME saw an equally dramatic move — SI dropped 39% in a week to 8.9% of float. Both exits look earnings-driven.

The flipside: CHWY is now one of the most shorted large-cap consumer names in the US. Its SI hit 51.5% of free float, up from 46.4% a week ago — a 5-point jump. Bears are firmly adding.

WOLF remains an extreme case. The semiconductor maker sits at 75% of float short, near zero shares available to borrow. Shorts added another 3.6 points this week. Availability has fallen to 0%. A squeeze trigger could be violent.

Cost-to-borrow pressure is building elsewhere. NIO CTB surged 160% in a week to 1.93%, with availability collapsing to 4.2%. MRNA CTB jumped 146% to 1.19%. NVDA borrow costs tripled to 0.42%, a quiet warning that short demand is creeping in ahead of November earnings.

Labor data also weighs on sentiment. June layoffs were revised up 19,000 while hires fell 16,000 — a soft backdrop that may embolden fresh shorts across rate-sensitive names.