Markets are pushing through a heavy week. Over 1,800 companies report earnings globally. Macro sentiment is mixed, with the yen on intervention watch during Japan's golden week and US stocks fresh off their best month since 2020.
The calendar is packed. Loews, CNA Financial, and European defence giant Thales kicked off the week. National Australia Bank's $88B print follows shortly. Analysts are broadly bullish going in — AMETEK has 14 buy ratings and zero sells. Ares Management counts 17 buy ratings. Utilities also look well-supported, with Xcel Energy target raised to $92.
Short sellers are positioning hard into earnings. BigBear.ai shorts are holding firm despite a pre-earnings rally. Rivian shorts are staying patient as the EV maker heads into its Q1 print. Zeta Global faces circling bears even as the Street turns more bullish. Wolfspeed remains one of the most shorted US names at 50.1% of free float. Sable Offshore sits at 38.6%.
NVDA tops both bullish and bearish options leaderboards. That two-way activity in a $4.8 trillion stock signals real uncertainty heading into the next catalyst. SanDisk — up 362% year-to-date — draws the most bearish options bets. Traders appear to be fading that extraordinary run with puts. AMD also sees elevated put flow after a 57% YTD gain.
The week's biggest insider story: Pentwater Capital filed a $1.75 billion sale of Avis Budget Group shares. Short covering at Avis also stood out, with SI % FF dropping 35.6 points. That combination of insider selling and short covering makes CAR one to watch closely.
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.
