NEWS
Stocks Slump Despite Chipmaker Jump

Last week’s speculative frenzy finally cooled down alongside big tech, making today an easy win for the bears. Concerns about global tensions, inflation data, and the start of earnings season had traders and investors locking in gains and taking a more cautious approach to new positions. 👀

Today's issue covers why the market is starting to slip, a major day of dealmaking, and the comeback happening in lithium stocks. 📰

Here’s the S&P 500 heatmap. 1 of 11 sectors closed green, with energy (+0.35%) leading and utilities (-2.30%) lagging.

And here are the closing prices: 

Most bullish/bearish symbols on Stocktwits at the close: 📈 $MYTE, $NAPA, $WAFU, $CETX, $CSIQ 📉 $ZK, $PLL, $MREO, $CELH, $LPSN*

*If you’re a business and want to access this data via our API, email us.

STOCKS
What Happened In Today’s Market 🤔 

With all the speculative businesses and stocks we discussed last week soaring, many came into this week expecting further upside across the board. Instead, they were met with selling. So, let’s take a look at today’s action.

First, Super Micro Computer’s shares rebounded sharply after the company said it’s shipping over 100,000 artificial intelligence (AI) GPUs per quarter. That helped the beaten-down semiconductor stock find its footing at prior resistance and break out above a three-month downtrend line. 👍

The semiconductor optimism helped Nvidia shares break out as well, giving the bulls optimism that the sector's next leg higher has begun.

Unfortunately, that’s where the positives ended, as most of the stock market sold off today. Many of the market’s leaders were down on the day, like Amazon, which faced a Wells Fargo downgrade over increasing competition and an antitrust case from U.S. regulators (the irony of those two news items, eh?). 🙃

Macro headwinds remain the major focus of investors who don’t want to take on too much risk as we head into a fresh earnings season on Friday, navigate the Middle East’s conflict, and an upcoming U.S. election.

Still, the Stocktiwts community isn’t betting on a major breakout in volatility, despite the Volatility Index ($VIX) rising 18% today and closing at a two-month high. The long volatility futures ETF $VXX popped 9% today, but Stocktwits sentiment remained in ‘bearish’ territory. 🫨

The last few months have presented many profitable themes, such as a Chinese stock comeback, rate cut bets breaking out, and tech’s rally broadening. But with many of these market bets looking stretched in the short term, some investors and traders are stepping aside and waiting for clearer signals before making big bets. We’ll have to see what this week’s inflation data and earnings season kickoff bring… 🦺