Tech Earnings, Activist Stakes, and a Bear Market in Luxury

Earnings Dominate the Close

Oracle and Adobe both report after today's bell. Expectations run high for Oracle on AI-driven cloud growth. Adobe investors want details on AI product monetisation. Meanwhile, RH just reported Q2 results after hours. Adjusted EPS came in at $2.70 — well above the $1.78 estimate. Revenue of $922M missed by $14M. Q3 guidance also fell short at $928–937M versus the $968M consensus. Q4 guidance beat at $978M–$1.02B versus $949M expected. The mixed bag sums up the state of the high-end consumer right now. Earlier, Macy's and Designer Brands held morning earnings calls, adding more colour to an uncertain retail picture.

Activist Pressure and M&A

Barington Capital has taken a new stake in Bath & Body Works and is pushing for a sale of the company. That is a direct catalyst for near-term price action. Separately, RUM Group is acquiring Northern Data shares from Tether at a fixed ratio of 2.03 RUM shares per Northern Data share. RUM plans a squeeze-out to absorb the remaining 2% of shares under German corporate law.

Short Sellers and Analyst Calls

Bears piled into Wix.com this week, with short interest jumping 9 points to 20.6% of free float. Wolfspeed remains deeply shorted at 77.2% with zero shares available to borrow. On the analyst front, The Cooper Companies was hit by two simultaneous downgrades from B of A and Baird. Morgan Stanley slapped a fresh Sell rating on Nike with a $31 target.

Europe Watch

The RUM–Northern Data deal is the headline cross-border story today. German squeeze-out rules give minority shareholders limited recourse once the 95% threshold is crossed.