US wholesale inventories jumped 1.4% in March. The estimate was 0.4%. That is a big beat. It lands on the same day Iran threatened "unprecedented military action" over seized vessels. Oil prices responded fast. Brent topped $110 for the first time in three weeks. USO options activity spiked sharply on the news.
The biggest earnings week of the year hits full stride today. Deutsche Bank and French luxury house Kering report from Europe. Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft are all due later this week. Investors will focus on cloud growth and AI spending guidance. Q1 adjusted EPS came in at $0.27, missing the $0.28 estimate by a slim margin.
Short sellers kept piling into chip names. Wolfspeed saw short interest hit 49.9% of free float — up nearly 10 points in seven days. Bearish options flow also hit NVDA, AMD, and MU hard this week. Meanwhile, Rosenblatt raised its target on Seagate Technology to $1,000, keeping its Buy rating. Gilead Sciences got a boost too — the FDA accepted its NDA for a new daily oral HIV treatment.
Upstart announced Fortress agreed to buy up to $1.25 billion in consumer loans through its platform over 15 months. That is a significant vote of confidence in the fintech's credit model. Barclays upgraded Franklin Resources to Equal-Weight with a $31 target.
On the insider front, Avis Budget Group remains the headline name. A 10% stakeholder sold over $1 billion in shares last week — a stark signal from a major holder.
ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
