Earnings Week Nerves Drive Defensive Bets

US: Bears, Buyers, and Big Prints Ahead

Markets are bracing for a heavy earnings stretch. Oracle reports Wednesday and Adobe on Thursday. Both are key reads on AI-driven enterprise spending. Rubrik also prints Wednesday. Analysts have been raising targets. Its ORTEX momentum score hit 74, up sharply from 48 in early May. Bulls are positioned for a beat.

Options markets are sending caution signals elsewhere. FNF and DICK'S Sporting Goods both show defensive put buying ahead of their June prints. DKS carries 10.6% short interest. A positive surprise there could spark a sharp move higher.

Rocket Companies faces a tougher setup. The stock has been selling off into Wednesday's report. That adds to pressure heading into results.

Insider selling dominated this week's filings. Silver Lake dumped $452M in Dell shares. An Nvidia director sold $199M. The Walton family filed a $184M Walmart sale. All trades cleared on June 2. Against that tide, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals CEO Kevin Tang bought roughly $25M in stock near $15.28 — a notable show of conviction at current levels.

Europe & Global: Chips Sink, Defence Holds

Nasdaq dropped 4% as chip and memory stocks led the slide. The selloff follows rising expectations of a Fed rate increase. US bond yields jumped sharply in response.

Bitcoin fell after Strategy's sale unnerved crypto traders. The cryptocurrency is on track for its biggest weekly loss since November 2022.

European defence stocks held firm. Ukraine ratified a $105 billion EU loan deal. That news kept defence names supported even as the broader European market slid. South Korean tech stocks fell over 5%, tracking the US chip selloff closely.

Short Interest Watch

Fintech lender DAVE saw shorts pile in — SI jumped 8.8 points to 29.2% of free float in a week. Wolfspeed tells the opposite story. Shorts are covering fast after SI dropped nearly 19 points. With availability at zero, a squeeze setup remains live.