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The buzziest stocks are running into the buzzsaw as stock-market angst festers

Speculative stocks are fully succumbing to the selling afflicting their larger peers.

Luke Kawa

The stock market has gone through three phases since the US election.

The first, from November 5 through December 6, saw stocks surge on widespread enthusiasm about the purportedly pro-business, pro-market stances the incoming Trump administration would adopt. Even then, there was more than a whiff of speculative fervor in the air: the best-performing US equity factors during this period were trading activity and volatility, or stocks that move a lot with lots of turnover.

Some companies that fall into one (or both) buckets include Palantir Technologies, Tesla, AppLovin, Rocket Lab, Trump Media & Technology Group, Riot Platforms, Rivian, Palo Alto Networks, Reddit, GameStop, MARA Holdings, and Coinbase.


Then, after December 6, the S&P 500 struggled, failing to make an all-time high, but many thematically interesting, tech-oriented segments of the market still roared.

Smaller AI upstarts like SoundHound AI and Cerence jumped more than 130% and 240%, respectively, over the next month. Four quantum-computing stocks — D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti Computing, IonQ, and Quantum Computing — saw their combined market caps rise by more than 80% during this stretch. The cherry on top of the speculative sundae saw SEALSQ, a Swiss company that’s been touting its quantum-resistant tech, spike 1,840% in a turbocharged parallel boom with quantum stocks.

Meanwhile, the benchmark US stock index gave back about 2%.

Now, even the buzziest names are running into the buzzsaw. Blame a combination of high long-term bond yields and some recalibration of very rose-colored expectations for the incoming Trump admin as the inauguration draws closer, along with some idiosyncratic catalysts — like Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang throwing cold water on quantum computing — for the air coming out of these balloons.

On January 7, stocks that did well during December started to get slammed, followed by a day of reckoning as the drawdowns accelerated.

This continued leg downward on Monday, with huge drops in once-upon-a-time meme stocks like Plug Power as well as the quantum-computing cohort, hints at the possibility of capitulation by retail investors. Last week, JPMorgan equity and quantitative strategists flagged that retail investors had been continuing to plow cash into the market, buying the dip in names like Palantir.

That dip-buying activity appears to have been getting dwarfed by institutional divestments at the index level for more than a month now. Now, the retreats in Big Tech megacaps have cascaded down to the parts of the stocks that had previously appeared immune to selling pressure.

Volatility and trading activity, the best-performing US stock-market factors from November 5 through January 6?

Well, since last Monday, those two are at the bottom of the leaderboard.

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Stock climb on US-Iran peace deal; semiconductors rally

This morning, President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war.

markets

Intel surges after Trump announces US chip deal with Apple

Intel is soaring in early trading after President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that Apple has agreed to work with the semiconductor giant to design and manufacture its chips domestically.

President Trump positioned the agreement as the latest victory for his administration’s industrial policy after the federal government acquired a 9.9% equity stake in Intel last year.

"Stupid Presidents took our Economy for granted, and let Taiwan and others steal our Semiconductor Factories," Trump wrote in the post. "We design everything, but we need to BUILD it here, NOW! So I decided to help Intel because we need to design and build our Chips right here in America... and, finally, Apple has agreed to work with Intel to design and build its Chips in America."

Intel reportedly reached a preliminary agreement back in May to manufacture chips for the Apple, which has been facing supply constraints for its iPhone as well other products. The deal could help Apple reduce its reliance on longtime partner TSMC by bringing more of its chip manufacturing stateside.

"This partnership helps Apple with chip development and manufacturing on US soil with greater focus on reducing dependence on Asian manufacturing facilities." Wedbush's Dan Ives commented in a company report. He has a $400 price target for Apple this year.

The timing aligns with Intel's technical roadmap. Earlier this week, Intel confirmed that its advanced, performance-boosted 18A-P process node officially entered its risk production phase. This move serves as a blueprint for both Intel chips and processors the company plans to build for foundry customers.

“The current capacity crunch is probably emboldening customers to give Intel a harder look at this stage than perhaps they might ordinarily be inclined to do as the prospect of more advanced capacity will take on higher value in a constrained environment,” wrote Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon. “We are sure that Trump’s encouragement is at least not going to hurt though.”

Momentum was built around Intel Foundry services as surging global AI demand continuously outpaced capacity. Earlier this month, Google reportedly placed an order with Intel to manufacture more than 3 million of its increasingly popular tensor processing unit chips in 2028. According to the report, Nvidia is also testing to see if Intel could manufacture its next-gen Feynman chips.

markets

Stocks rise after US, Iran sign peace plan

Stocks rose Thursday morning after President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, in another sign that a months-long war that caused energy prices to spike could be coming to an end.

Trump signed the MOU before a dinner in Versailles, France on Wednesday evening. The president previously announced that a deal had been reached on Sunday evening, saying that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz would resume and that the US naval blockade would be lifted.

The deal comes after both sides exchanged attacks last week, escalating tensions to some of the highest levels since the US and Israel struck Iran in late February.

The price of Brent Crude ticked even lower after dropping on Sunday, sitting at about $76 a barrel. Oil giants like Shell, Chevron and Exxon fell on the news, as average gas prices in the US dropped below $4 for the first time in months.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite rose 0.9% and 1.5%, respectively. Last week, inflation readings for May showed both wholesale inflation and consumer prices rose in large part because of higher energy costs.

Signs of the peace deal have also lead to buying of momentum stocks this week. iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETFrose another 1.46% in premarket trading.

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