Amex Beats, Semis Surge as Earnings Season Heats Up

American Express Leads Friday's Charge

American Express posted a profit jump today as premium cardholders kept spending freely. The company's CFO described client behaviour as showing "strong and consistent spend growth" over the past year. CEO Steve Squeri also flagged that the firm will cut 5% of total jobs and acknowledged a regulatory consent order from the OCC over anti-money laundering deficiencies. He said no asset cap was imposed. The stock is among the biggest movers on Friday.

Semiconductor Momentum Builds

SK hynix surged in Seoul today after reporting results that beat expectations, adding momentum to a semiconductor sector already drawing heavy call options flow. NVDA, MU, AMD, and INTC all show RSI readings below 40 amid elevated bullish options positioning. Traders are leaning into the chip dip ahead of a packed earnings week, with Taiwan's September export orders hitting a record $114.2bn, the highest since 1984, underscoring the demand backdrop for the sector.

Big Earnings Week Ahead

MSFT reports Tuesday after the close. AMZN and INTC follow Thursday. The results will set the tone for the broader market. In Europe, MBG reports Thursday. ORTEX Alt Data tracking Dutch car registrations points to a -6% year-on-year reading for the quarter, a potential headwind for the German automaker.

Short Sellers and Index Radars

CoreWeave short interest climbed to 24.8% of free float this week, up 3.6 percentage points, after Morgan Stanley cut its price target to $70. Meanwhile, Vaxcyte straddles both Russell indices at once with a market cap of $9.9bn, sitting just 0.5% from both the Russell 2000 exit line and the Russell 1000 entry line. A single volatile session before the 30 October rank date could trigger $430m of forced buying or $1.2bn of forced selling. CRH completed its $8.5bn acquisition of Arcosa today, one of the larger deals to close this week.