| W S W |
Wall Street Wire
What the Smart Money Is Doing
| THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2026 | by Nate Fowler |
Wednesday's session closed at fresh records: the S&P 500 at 7,137.90 (+1.05%), the Nasdaq at 24,657.57 (+1.64%), the Dow at 49,490.03 (+0.69%), and the VIX — a measure of expected market volatility — falling to 18.92, its lowest point since the Iran conflict began. The catalyst was President Trump extending the U.S. ceasefire with Iran indefinitely, while a flood of earnings beats from Boeing, GE Vernova, and Tesla reinforced the rally in tech and industrials. Thursday morning tells a different story: futures have retreated, with Iran indicating it has no imminent plans for new peace talks, and crude oil climbing back above $93 per barrel. This week's filings show smart money positioning on both sides of that tension — with semiconductor insiders leaning in, and AI cloud investors quietly walking out the door.
Elon Musk’s $1 Quadrillion AI IPO
Have you heard of Elon Musk’s $1 quadrillion IPO?
And you could claim a stake today...
Before the company goes public…
Starting with just $500.
You see, this IPO is a key part of Elon Musk’s secret AI masterplan…
A plan that I believe will unlock the full power of artificial intelligence…
Unleashing what Elon Musk is predicting will be…
A $1 quadrillion new wealth wave.
Just to put that into perspective…
That would be enough to send a check for $2.8 million to every man, woman, and child in America.
That’s how big this opportunity is.
↑
Who Bought
What they bought and when
Entegris Executive Chair Bertrand Loy — $4.3M
Entegris (ENTG) makes the specialty chemicals and filtration systems that semiconductor fabs need to build advanced chips — think the cleaning fluids and filters inside TSMC's most cutting-edge factories. On April 17, Executive Chair Bertrand Loy purchased 44,138 shares at $98.11 per share, a $4.3 million personal bet filed April 20. With ENTG's stock up 113% over the past year and trading near its 52-week high, a buy from the executive chair at these levels signals conviction that the AI-driven chip buildout has more runway ahead.
Paulson & Co. adds to International Tower Hill Mines — $12.6M
International Tower Hill Mines (THM) is an Alaskan gold mining development company. John Paulson's hedge fund — famous for its bet against mortgage securities in 2008 — purchased 4.9 million shares on April 16 for roughly $12.6 million, continuing a pattern of 4 buys totaling $77.7 million over the past six months. Gold has been a direct beneficiary of the Iran conflict, as investors seek assets that hold value when geopolitical risk rises. Paulson is stacking exposure on the development end of that trade.
Neuronetics 10% Owner Jorey Chernett — ~$310K
Neuronetics (STIM) makes a non-invasive brain stimulation device used to treat depression without drugs. Jorey Chernett, who owns more than 10% of the company, purchased 200,000 shares across April 20 and April 21 at prices near $1.51–$1.58 per share. This is a low-priced, speculative name — but a major shareholder adding at these levels while the stock sits near multi-year lows is worth noting. He now directly holds nearly 10 million shares.
Navios Maritime CEO Angeliki Frangou — 23 consecutive buys
Navios Maritime Partners (NMM) operates a fleet of dry bulk and container ships. CEO Angeliki Frangou has now made 23 consecutive open-market purchases of NMM stock, with no sales recorded in the past six months. The latest filings show her continuing to add in April 2026. In a period when Strait of Hormuz disruptions have reshaped global shipping routes, a shipping CEO who keeps buying her own stock is telling you something about near-term freight volumes.
Robinhood Ventures Fund takes OpenAI stake — $75M
Robinhood Ventures Fund I — a publicly traded vehicle that gives retail investors access to private technology companies — invested $75 million in OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT. The fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in March and calls this one of its largest investments to date. It's a notable signal: Robinhood, whose business model depends on retail participation, is channeling investor money into AI's biggest private name at a moment when public AI names like CoreWeave are seeing institutional selling.
↓
Who Sold
Exits and reductions this week
Magnetar Financial reduces CoreWeave — $75M+ this week alone
CoreWeave (CRWV) rents out AI computing infrastructure — essentially, the data center capacity that companies like Microsoft and Meta need to run AI models. Magnetar Financial, a major shareholder, sold 323,452 shares on April 21 and another 319,835 shares on April 20, at prices near $117–$118 per share, generating over $75 million in just two days. Over the full week, Magnetar has now exited more than $580 million in CoreWeave stock. The stock has still more than tripled over the past year. Magnetar is taking money off the table — not abandoning the position entirely, but reducing exposure meaningfully at elevated levels.
MP Materials CEO James Litinsky — $19.2M
MP Materials (MP) mines and processes rare earth elements — the materials used in electric motors, defense systems, and magnets. CEO James Litinsky sold 290,000 shares across April 17 and April 20 at roughly $64 per share, totaling $19.2 million. The sales were pre-scheduled under a Rule 10b5-1 plan — meaning he set them up months ago. His stock has risen 186% over the past year. He retains more than 12.5 million shares, so this is a trim, not an exit.
Entegris Chair Bertrand Loy scheduled sale — $6.4M
The same Entegris executive chair who purchased shares also sold 44,138 shares on April 17 for $6.4 million at prices between $140 and $146.46, executed under a Rule 10b5-1 plan set up in February 2025. That plan and his subsequent open-market purchase are two separate acts — the scheduled sell was programmed; the buy was discretionary. When an executive sells under a plan and then turns around and buys in the open market, the buy carries more weight. It suggests he viewed the stock at current levels as attractive beyond the scheduled sale.
SOPHiA GENETICS — 7 executives sell simultaneously — ~$37K combined
SOPHiA GENETICS (SOPH) builds AI-powered software for clinical genomics — helping hospitals analyze patient DNA data. On April 20, seven executives including CEO Camblong Jurgi filed coordinated sales totaling 7,159 shares near $5.20 each. The dollar amounts are small, but synchronized selling across an entire C-suite is unusual. Each insider retained substantial positions, suggesting routine portfolio diversification rather than a loss of confidence — but the pattern is worth watching.
IBM and ServiceNow face after-hours selling — −7% / −12% after hours
IBM, the enterprise technology and consulting company, and ServiceNow, which makes software that automates business workflows, both reported earnings after Wednesday's close that disappointed investors. IBM fell more than 7% in after-hours trading; ServiceNow more than 12%. This matters for Thursday's open: these are major enterprise software names, and misses here raise the question of whether corporate tech spending is slowing even as AI infrastructure spending continues to accelerate.
⟳
Where the Money Is Moving
Sector performance — Wednesday, April 22, 2026 (last full session)
Technology
+2.1%
Industrials
+1.8%
Financials
+1.2%
Energy
+1.1%
Comm. Svcs
+0.8%
Cons. Disc.
+0.5%
Healthcare
−0.3%
Cons. Staples
−0.5%
Real Estate
−0.7%
Utilities
−0.9%
| Money flowing in Money flowing out |
The ceasefire extension pushed money toward growth sectors — chips, industrials, and AI infrastructure — while defensive plays like utilities and real estate gave back ground. Energy held positive despite the day's risk-on tone, a signal that traders aren't fully convinced the Strait of Hormuz reopens cleanly.
Nate's Take
The split this week is as clean as I've seen it in a while. In semiconductors and materials, insiders are buying: Entegris Executive Chair Bertrand Loy put $4.3 million in personally at these prices, and Paulson & Co. continued adding to International Tower Hill Mines. These are people and funds who believe the AI hardware buildout has more room to run — and that the current conflict has made real assets more attractive. On the AI cloud side, the picture is different. Magnetar Financial has now sold over $580 million in CoreWeave since last Wednesday. CoreWeave is still up enormously for the year, but when a 10% owner reduces that aggressively into a record-high tape, the message is that the rally in cloud infrastructure has run ahead of fundamentals. The IBM and ServiceNow earnings misses after Wednesday's bell add another data point: enterprise software buyers may be pausing. The question I'm holding this morning is whether the semiconductor conviction holds if Thursday's open reflects Iran stalling on peace talks and crude back above $93. So far, the chip trade has shrugged off every geopolitical headline — but every trade has a breaking point.
◆
Who's Hedging
Risk positioning and what it signals
Iran talks stall — oil back above $93/barrel
After Trump's indefinite ceasefire extension lifted markets Wednesday, Iran said Thursday it has no imminent plans for new negotiations. Crude oil — West Texas Intermediate — climbed back toward $93–$95, with Brent near $104. For context: Brent rose nearly 13% over the prior three sessions alone. Funds positioned for a durable peace face renewed exposure. Energy stocks may benefit, but transport, airlines, and any business with high fuel costs face fresh pressure.
Magnetar sells CoreWeave calls at $160 strike
In addition to selling stock outright, Magnetar on April 15 sold call options on 2 million CoreWeave shares with a $160 strike price expiring December 2026. A call option gives the buyer the right to purchase shares at a set price — by selling these calls, Magnetar collected premium income but capped its upside above $160. CoreWeave currently trades near $122. This is a classic hedge: continue holding shares while generating income and limiting exposure if the stock runs further.
S&P futures pull back Thursday — VIX at 19.38
S&P 500 futures fell 0.41% Thursday morning, Nasdaq futures down 0.39%, and the VIX — a measure of expected near-term volatility in the S&P 500 based on options prices — rose to 19.38, up 2.4% from Wednesday's close. A VIX above 20 historically signals elevated anxiety. We're not there yet, but the direction of travel on Thursday morning suggests traders are repricing risk upward after Iran's statements, not downward.
Goldman: Brent could average over $100 through 2026
Goldman Sachs analysts have warned that Brent crude — the global benchmark price for oil — could average above $100 per barrel through the rest of 2026 if the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly one-fifth of global oil flows, remains restricted. Charles Schwab's research team echoed this, noting that even if a truce holds, damaged energy infrastructure in the region could take months to restart. Invesco flagged that U.S. midstream companies — pipelines and storage operators — stand to benefit from higher volumes as global energy routes are rerouted.
Retail traders pile into Netflix at its post-earnings low — $290M 5-day net buy
Market research firm Vanda tracked $290 million in net retail buying of Netflix (NFLX) over the five days through Wednesday — the highest of the year and more than inflows into the Invesco QQQ Trust, which tracks the 100 largest Nasdaq stocks. Netflix shares are down more than 13% over the past week. Retail investors are buying what institutions may be selling. Whether that's a contrarian signal worth respecting, or a sign of the market's hot-money dynamics in 2026, is the question Vanda itself left open.
The Takeaway
Wednesday's record close was built on two things: Trump's ceasefire extension and strong earnings from Boeing and Tesla. Thursday is testing both. Iran has stepped back from the table, oil is climbing, and IBM and ServiceNow missed in after-hours. The insiders who matter most right now are the ones still buying into this — Entegris Executive Chair Bertrand Loy putting in $4.3 million personally after a 113% run in the stock is the kind of conviction that doesn't happen by accident. The question Thursday will answer: does the chip trade hold when the peace trade softens?
— Nate Fowler
Who Bought · Who Sold · Who's Hedging
