UK gilt yields posted their biggest weekly drop since 2023 on Friday. Chancellor Burnham's pledge to hold fiscal rules steady — combined with fading bets on further Bank of England rate cuts — drove a sharp relief rally. European equities had a volatile week. Iran-related tensions dominated headlines early on, pushing defence stocks lower before a partial rebound. Asia-Pacific markets ended higher as investors digested US-Iran diplomatic signals.
The week ahead brings a heavyweight earnings slate. Salesforce and Marvell Technology both report Tuesday after the US close. Salesforce faces scrutiny over AI-driven enterprise spending. Marvell must show that data centre demand is holding up. Wednesday adds Costco, Dollar Tree, and Autodesk. Costco's membership trends are closely watched.
Wolfspeed remains the most extreme short in the market. SI % of Free Float hit 98.2% — up from 93.3% a week ago. Cost to borrow stands at 12.38% APR and availability has gone to zero. Chewy short interest climbed to 53.1% of free float. Columbia Sportswear and Robert Half also saw short positions grow, reflecting wider concern about consumer spending and hiring.
Truist raised its target on Keysight by 21% to $376. Ross Stores drew three target upgrades after solid results. On the insider front, CVS director Lawrence Robbins sold $262M in CVS shares across two transactions filed Thursday. Colliers International CEO Jay Hennick went the other way — buying $22.4M in CIGI stock across two days, a rare signal of executive confidence.
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.
