US stocks 'no short sellers': Historically risky midterm election window opens, sharp volatility likely between August and October

Key premarket news for US stocks on Tuesday: 1. Possibly impacted by Anthropic’s annual revenue coming in below expectations, US premarket major indices, storage, and optical communication sectors all declined. Bloomberg previously reported that Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate as of the end of July was approximately $65 billion. Against a backdrop where some third-party data and AI industry optimistic expectations had pointed to over $80 billion, the $65 billion figure signals a slowdown in growth momentum. 2. Aggregating 13F regulatory filing data, more than ten family offices held a combined total of at least $3.8 billion in SpaceX (SPCX.O) shares in the first half of 2026. 3. Prediction markets are pricing in a 55% probability that Tesla (TSLA.O) and SpaceX (SPCX.O) will merge before 2027. 4. A major lawsuit against Meta Platforms (META.O) alleging child safety harms and privacy violations will commence trial starting local time on Tuesday. 5. US metaverse firm Super League (SLE.O) rose over 20% in premarket trading, after receiving a 2,100 BTC investment from Metaplanet plus an additional $2.5 million in cash. Upon deal completion, Metaplanet is expected to hold approximately 95.7% of Super League’s shares. 6. Bank of America’s latest global fund manager survey shows that global fund managers’ allocation to stocks has risen to its highest level in nearly five years, with market consensus being highly crowded. A net 56% of respondents are overweight stocks, the highest since November 2021, while cash holdings dropped to a historic low of 3.5%. 7. Baidu (BIDU.O) reported Q2 2026 revenue of 31.3 billion yuan, compared to 32.713 billion yuan in the same period last year. 8. Goldman Sachs (GS.N) announced an agreement to acquire LCN Capital Partners, with an upfront transaction consideration of approximately $260 million. The proposed deal also includes around $150 million in deferred and contingent consideration.

According to market data from BIT (Bit.com), pre-market trading in U.S. metaverse firm Super League saw its stock gain surge to as high as 90% at one point, with the rise now retreating to 70%. In related news, Metaplanet will inject 2,100 BTC (valued at roughly $132 million) plus an additional $2.5 million in cash into Nasdaq-listed Super League (SLE). Super League will be renamed "Superplanet", and its stock ticker is set to change to SUPA. Upon the transaction’s completion, Metaplanet is expected to hold around 95.7% of Superplanet’s shares, establishing a U.S.-listed Bitcoin treasury platform to raise capital through the U.S. capital markets.

Metaplanet will inject 2,100 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at approximately $132 million, into Nasdaq-listed firm Super League (SLE), plus an additional $2.5 million in cash. Super League will be renamed "Superplanet", with its stock ticker proposed to be changed to SUPA. Upon completion of the transaction, Metaplanet is expected to hold roughly 95.7% of Superplanet’s shares, establishing a U.S.-listed Bitcoin treasury platform to raise capital via the U.S. capital market. Superplanet plans to expand into the growing "digital credit" market, raise funds by issuing U.S. dollar-denominated perpetual preferred shares, use the proceeds to further purchase Bitcoin, and support dividend payments through U.S. dollar reserves and operating cash flow. Metaplanet noted that this strategy aims to increase the Bitcoin per share of Superplanet, as well as boost Bitcoin holdings per share of Metaplanet stock at the group level. This structure will form two listed Bitcoin treasury platforms under the group: one in Japan and one in the U.S., both leveraging their respective local capital markets to continue accumulating Bitcoin.

Fabrinet, a key supplier of Nvidia, reported strong financial results and better-than-expected performance guidance, but its pre-market share price dropped over 11% to $531.48 due to weak data communications business performance and broader pressure on AI infrastructure stocks. For its fourth fiscal quarter, Fabrinet’s adjusted earnings per share (EPS) hit $4.10, exceeding the market expectation of $3.81; revenue rose 45% year-over-year to $1.32 billion, also beating analysts’ forecast of $1.28 billion. The company projected its first fiscal quarter adjusted EPS to be between $4.10 and $4.25, and revenue to range from $1.375 billion to $1.425 billion, both above market expectations. The strong performance was mainly driven by data center demand. CEO Seamus Grady noted that current customer demand is “showing no signs of ending.” However, the company’s data communications revenue fell 1% quarter-over-quarter to $258 million, while its high-performance computing (HPC) business grew 11% quarter-over-quarter to $118 million—both developments sparked investor concerns. B. Riley cut Fabrinet’s price target from $635 to $598, while maintaining a “neutral” rating. Fabrinet is also an important supplier of Nvidia, but B. Riley data shows its fiscal 2026 revenue from Nvidia will decline 21% year-over-year to $742 million. Although Barclays and JPMorgan Chase raised their price targets to $739 and $695 respectively, they also pointed out hidden risks in the data communications and HPC businesses. As of pre-market trading on August 18, Fabrinet has gained 31% year-to-date, with its 12-month increase exceeding 80%.

According to market data from BIT (Bit.com), U.S. metaverse firm Super League’s pre-market shares surged over 20%, lifting its market capitalization to $5.11 million. The development follows news that Metaplanet will inject 2,100 BTC (valued at roughly $132 million) plus an additional $2.5 million in cash into Nasdaq-listed Super League (SLE). Super League will be renamed "Superplanet", with its stock ticker set to change to SUPA. Once the transaction closes, Metaplanet is projected to hold around 95.7% of Superplanet’s shares, establishing a U.S.-listed Bitcoin treasury platform to raise capital via American capital markets.

South Korean retail investors are shifting funds from their domestic stock market to the U.S. market. Data from the Korea Securities Depository shows that South Korean investors net bought around $4.5 billion in U.S. stocks in July, with approximately $840 million flowing into SK Hynix’s U.S.-listed American Depositary Receipts (ADRs), making it one of the most net-purchased U.S. securities by South Korean investors. Notably, South Korean investors could have directly bought SK Hynix shares in the domestic market but opted for its U.S. ADRs, leading to a notable price gap between the two markets. Currently, SK Hynix’s ADR trades at a roughly 10% premium to its domestic shares, with higher volatility for the U.S.-listed stock. Owen Lamont, senior vice president at Acadian Asset Management, notes that this rare price discrepancy may be a sign of excessive market speculation, even a "symptom of a bubble." The shift of South Korean retail investors to U.S. stocks has not reduced their risk appetite—AI, semiconductors, and high-leverage products remain core bets. Among the top 10 U.S. stocks net bought by South Korean investors in July, four were leveraged products, with the Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3x ETF (SOXL) being the most popular. Meanwhile, South Korea’s stock market margin balance has fallen from around 37 trillion won at the end of June to about 27 trillion won by early August. Analysts point out that South Korean retail investors may have merely moved their high-risk AI trades originally conducted in the domestic market to the U.S. rather than exiting risk assets entirely. Industry experts believe that the scale of South Korean funds is insufficient to alter the overall trend of the U.S. stock market, but their concentrated trading could further amplify price volatility in high-volatility assets heavily favored by retail investors, such as AI chips, quantum computing, and leveraged ETFs.