Big Tech Week Arrives as Bears Target AI Cloud and EVs

Earnings in the Spotlight

This week's earnings calendar is one of the heaviest of the year. Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon all report between Wednesday and Thursday. Together they will shape the market's direction into November. Intel also reports Thursday, and its print carries extra weight given ongoing pressure on its data-centre business. Cadence Design Systems kicked things off today with Q3 results. Cadence acts as a bellwether for semiconductor demand, making its read widely watched beyond its own stock.

Bears Pile Into AI and EVs

Short sellers added to positions in two crowded names. CoreWeave saw its short interest rise 3.6 percentage points in seven days, to 24.8% of free float. Bearish options bets have built alongside, and the stock is down 24% year-to-date. Lucid Group sits at 64.7% SI % of FF with a 15-day days-to-cover. ORTEX alt data adds context: registered battery-electric vehicles in the US state fleet fell to a four-year July low of 13,272 in 2026, down from 15,268 in 2022. That is a difficult backdrop for loss-making EV names.

Europe: Carmakers Face a Mixed Read

European auto earnings loom large this week. Mercedes-Benz reports Tuesday and Volkswagen on Thursday. ORTEX alt data shows Dutch car registration data, which leads Mercedes revenue by 26 days with a strong fit, is running 6% below the same quarter last year. That points to continued pressure on the German carmaker's top line.

Index Radar: Vaxcyte on a Knife-Edge

Vaxcyte sits just 0.5% below the Russell 2000 exit line and 0.5% above the Russell 1000 entry line simultaneously. The 30 October rank date resolves it. A Russell 2000 deletion would force an estimated $1.2 billion of selling. McCormick carries a 77% probability of MSCI World deletion, with $735 million of estimated forced selling attached.