ON Buyside Bars; Positioning; HG AI Debt View; AMAT, AMD, ANET, COHR, CSCO, LITE, SNDK & WDC Buyside Expectations; HW/Networking EPS Themes; News: US Hardware / Semiconductors Sector Specialist Commentary

Research evidence excerpt

ON Buyside Bars; Positioning; HG AI Debt View; AMAT, AMD, ANET, COHR, CSCO, LITE, SNDK & WDC Buyside Expectations; HW/Networking EPS Themes; News: US Hardware / Semiconductors Sector Specialist Commentary

Joshua Meyers - Specialist Sales - US TMT AC (1-617) 310 0767 North America Specialist Sales J P M O R G A Njoshua.meyers@jpmorgan.com

J.P. Morgan Securities LLC 03 August 2026

Elsewhere, JPM Positioning Intel recaps the month that was. They didn’t view the reversal as surprising given the extreme level

of performance and positioning in Tech and Momentum; however, the speed of the reversal caught many by surprise,

culminating in a period of extreme de-grossing Monday through Wednesday last week. The team’s US Tactical Positioning

Monitor already flashed “attractive” a week ago, but team head John Schlagel warned the recovery could be choppy (it has!) and

that factor/sector positioning remains stretched on a longer-term basis, posing lingering risks. (The fact that a recovery appears to

be consensus also poses a potential risk!). Overall funds had a poor July, with US investors roughly flat MoM, EU -3% and APAC

-5% (this tracked with conversations I had), as crowded tech longs fell -21% in N.A., versus shorts -6% (reversing part of the

+40% spread we saw in June); and APAC Tech crowded longs were -37% in Jul while shorts were flat, for a very negative spread

of -38%. US HF de-grossing is more negative than every year except 2020 and 2022, and the sharp 3-day de-gross episode was

comparable to late-Jan ’21 and mid-Nov ’22. Overall HF leverage was roughly unchanged MoM, however, as negative

performance offset exposure reductions (but notably, the 8-week decline in Eq L/S net leverage hit about -2z by mid-July; similar