NEW YORK, March 2, 2026, 08:35 EST — Premarket
- Rocket Companies shares were lower in premarket trading after gains in the prior session.
- Short interest in the stock rose sharply in the latest reporting period, data showed.
- Investors are watching management comments at an investor conference and this week’s U.S. jobs report for interest-rate signals.
Rocket Companies shares edged down in premarket trading on Monday as fresh data showed a jump in bearish bets against the mortgage lender’s stock.
The move comes with investors focused on interest-rate expectations heading into a week packed with U.S. data that can swing Treasury yields and mortgage rates, a key driver for lenders’ demand.
Rocket was down 1.8% at $17.87 before the bell, according to MarketWatch. The stock closed at $18.19 on Friday. 1
Short interest — a measure of how many shares investors have sold short in hopes of buying back lower — climbed to 54.43 million shares as of the Feb. 13 settlement date, up 49.8% from the Jan. 29 total, according to MarketBeat. The days-to-cover ratio, which gauges how quickly short sellers could need to buy back shares based on average volume, was 1.6 days. 2
Rocket is scheduled to appear at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on Monday, its investor relations website shows. 3
On Friday, Rocket outperformed several housing-finance peers even as broader indexes fell. UWM Holdings dropped 3.1%, while mortgage insurers MGIC Investment and Radian Group also ended lower, MarketWatch data showed. 4
Rocket has been in focus after it and Compass announced a three-year alliance late last week that will push Compass “Coming Soon” listings to Rocket-owned Redfin and embed Rocket Mortgage into Compass’s platform. “Today’s challenge is friction in the homebuying process and a lack of inventory,” Rocket CEO Varun Krishna said in the release, while Compass CEO Robert Reffkin said sellers should have “the freedom to list their homes” without “misleading insights.” 5
Mortgage rates have been easing, with Freddie Mac’s latest weekly survey showing the 30-year fixed rate averaged 5.98% as of Feb. 26, down from 6.01% the prior week. For mortgage lenders, small rate moves can matter because refinancing demand tends to rise when borrowing costs fall. 6
The next big read for rate-sensitive stocks is Friday’s U.S. employment report. A Reuters poll expects February payrolls to rise by 60,000, and BNY’s John Velis said the market’s reaction will help show whether the “rate argument” is driving stocks; Murphy & Sylvest’s Paul Nolte said the concern is that January’s strength could prove “a one-off.” 7
Beyond the jobs data, investors are also looking toward the Federal Reserve’s March 17-18 policy meeting for any shift in tone on the path for rates. 8
But there is an obvious catch: a hotter jobs number could push yields higher and put mortgage-rate relief at risk, undercutting any optimism around a pickup in loan demand. Elevated short interest can also cut both ways — it can amplify a rally if shorts rush to cover, or deepen a drop if momentum turns.
