Big Tech Earnings Week Collides with Short Seller Pressure

Earnings Dominate the Calendar

This is one of the busiest reporting weeks of 2026. S&P Global kicks off today. Microsoft follows tomorrow after the close, reporting Q1 fiscal 2027 results. Thursday brings the two biggest prints: Amazon and Intel both report Q3. Amazon's AWS numbers will set the tone for the rest of the tech season.

In Europe, Mercedes-Benz reports Wednesday. Dutch car registrations, which lead Mercedes revenue by 26 days with a strong fit, are running 6% below the same quarter last year. That is a soft backdrop heading into the print. Volkswagen and Renault follow on Thursday.

Bears Circle the Mega-Caps

Options markets are skewed bearish across chip and AI names ahead of earnings. NVDA, AMD and META are all drawing heavy negative flow. Meta's RSI has slid to 35.7. Its ORTEX short score stands at 29. CoreWeave is the standout short interest mover: SI % of FF rose 4.5 percentage points in a week to 25.7%. Bears are betting its $25B valuation is stretched.

Talen Energy carries a separate alarm. Its reactor output fell 10.0 standard deviations below its own history as of 9 October. That is the sharpest deviation in the nuclear output dataset. The stock has been watched closely for its data-centre power agreements.

Analysts Upgrade IT Services

Wells Fargo raised its target on Cognizant by 15% to $77, keeping its Buy rating. Susquehanna lifted its Visa target from $427 to $480 ahead of earnings, reflecting confidence in consumer spending. Accenture also got a 20% target increase from Wells Fargo.

Index Watch: Russell Deadline Looms

The Russell 2000 ranking cut-off falls on 30 October. Five names sit within 0.6% of the entry line, with Meridian Holdings sitting exactly on it. Old National Bancorp straddles both the Russell 2000 exit and Russell 1000 entry lines simultaneously. A confirmed deletion would force $1.2B of index selling.