Big Tech Earnings, Semis Sell-Off, and a Record from Taiwan

Earnings Season in Full Swing

The week's dominant story is a packed earnings calendar. Microsoft and Amazon both report this week, with a combined market cap above $6.5 trillion. Chipotle and Intel follow later in the week. On Tuesday, Coca-Cola and S&P Global are up early. Options markets are pricing in volatility across the board. Intel heads into its print with an RSI of 33, up 136% year-to-date but stalling.

Chips Under Pressure

The semiconductor sector is taking hits ahead of results. Onto Innovation dropped 10% in a week, dragging peers lower. KLA Corp now trades at an RSI of 23, deeply oversold, and has lost 88% year-to-date. Analysts still see 60% upside from current levels. Lam Research is also caught in the crossfire despite being up 79% year-to-date. Short sellers added to positions in AI infrastructure plays too. CoreWeave saw its short interest climb to 24.8% of free float, up 3.6 percentage points in seven days.

Europe: Automakers Face a Weak Quarter

Three major European carmakers report Thursday and Wednesday. ORTEX alt data tracking Dutch car registrations leads Mercedes-Benz revenue by 26 days with a strong fit. That dataset is running 6% below the same quarter last year. Volkswagen faces a similar signal: Austrian registrations, which lead VW revenue by 18 days, are also down 6% year-on-year. Renault gets a more mixed read. Austrian data points to plus 6%, but Dutch registrations run minus 19%.

Taiwan Orders at Record High

Away from earnings, Taiwan's export orders hit $95.7 billion in September 2026, the highest reading since the series began in 1984, according to the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs. That beat the previous record of $84.3 billion. The data supports the bull case for global chip demand even as individual names sell off.

Analyst Moves: Datadog Gets a Lift

Datadog picked up a Bernstein upgrade that reset consensus higher. Merck also saw its target raised to $159.76. On the other side, GE, Honeywell, and Abbott all had targets trimmed after Q3 results, even where numbers came in ahead of expectations.