Big Tech Earnings Week Puts $5 Trillion on the Line

The Week's Central Event

Microsoft and Alphabet both report after Wednesday's close. Together they carry a combined market cap above $5 trillion. Amazon follows on Thursday. Options markets are positioning hard. Micron Technology shows heavy two-sided flow, a sign traders are buying straddles ahead of a vol event. Meta Platforms sits fourth in bearish options flow despite analysts projecting 31% upside. Its RSI has dropped to 35.7, the lowest in the Big Tech group.

Bears Target AI and EVs

Short sellers are circling AI infrastructure. CoreWeave saw its SI % of Free Float rise 3.6 points in a week to 24.8%. Bears are pricing in valuation risk at the $25B AI cloud provider ahead of a week that will stress-test the entire sector. EV names remain the most extreme. Lucid Group stands at 64.7% SI % FF with zero shares available to borrow. ORTEX alt data adds context: US plug-in EV registrations fell to 21,482 units in July 2026, the smallest July reading in four years.

European Autos in the Spotlight

Mercedes-Benz reports Q3 on Tuesday. ORTEX's Dutch car registration data, a leading indicator of Mercedes revenue with a 26-day lead and strong fit, is running 6% below the same quarter last year across all three months. Volkswagen and Renault follow Thursday, with Austrian registration data also pointing to a 6% year-on-year drop for VW.

Index Radar: Russell Countdown

Five days remain before the Russell 2000 ranking cut-off on 30 October. Vaxcyte is the sharpest binary: sitting 0.5% below the Russell 2000 exit line and 0.5% above the Russell 1000 entry line. A move through $63.17 triggers an exit. A close below $62.53 brings $430M of forced Russell 1000 buying. McCormick faces a 77% MSCI World deletion probability with $735M of forced selling flagged for the November review.