Making Waves: Cheniere Energy, Inc., UPS, GW Pharmaceuticals PLC, and Jeff Bezos

Among the names making headlines today are natural gas concern Cheniere Energy, Inc. (NYSEMKT:LNG), which just got another endorsement from Carl Icahn; delivery firm United Parcel Service, Inc. (NYSE:UPS), which is lifting holiday spirits (and payrolls); and biotech GW Pharmaceuticals PLC - ADR (NASDAQ:GWPH), which is lighting up the charts and the weed world. In addition, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos is taking a page from the Elon Musk playbook. 

Carl Icahn once again upped his stake in LNG, to about 9.6%. The shares were last seen 1% higher at $54.65, but remain more than 22% lower year-to-date. Not everyone is such a fan of LNG, though. Jim Chanos recently called the stock a "looming disaster," and short interest jumped 13.1% during the past two reporting periods. These bearish bets now account for 12.1% of LNG's total available float, representing more than six sessions' worth of pent-up buying demand, at the equity's average pace of trading. 

UPS is 3.1% higher at $100.02 -- marking its first foray into triple-digit territory since the broad-market plunge last month. Lifting the equity is the firm's plans to hire up to 95,000 seasonal workers, in an effort to "handle anticipated e-commerce-driven holiday delivery demand." The news is also helping to bolster sector peer FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX), which will step into the earnings confessional tomorrow.

UPS' move back above the century mark could spook a few recent option bears. The stock's 10-day put/call volume ratio on the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits at 0.87 -- in the 77th percentile of its annual range, pointing to a healthier-than-usual appetite for long puts over calls. Peak put open interest in the September series can be spotted at the 100 strike, with nearly 4,300 contracts outstanding. 

GWPH is up 6.7% at $114.26, after the firm's experimental cannabis treatment for schizophrenia outperformed a placebo. The stock -- already up 68.4% in 2015 -- could get an added lift, should short sellers hit the bricks. Short interest accounts for 9.4% of the stock's total float, and would take six sessions to unwind, at GWPH's average pace of trading. 

Finally, AMZN founder Jeff Bezos said his space company, Blue Origin, will build a rocket manufacturing facility near NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The startup will launch rockets from a refurbished launchpad. Bezos isn't the only renaissance CEO aiming for space; Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk founded privately owned SpaceX.