Gotrade News - AI chip stocks slid in premarket trading ahead of Nvidia's quarterly earnings report later this week. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.6% while Nvidia shares dropped 1.33% before the opening bell.
Valuation concerns and Iran peace deal uncertainty weighed on sentiment across the semiconductor complex. The selloff sets a critical test for the AI boom narrative that has powered the US equity rally this year.
Key Takeaways
- Nvidia reports quarterly earnings later this week with implied volatility spiking to 77%.
- Micron fell 5.95% and Western Digital lost 4.84%, leading semiconductor sector declines.
- ASML said the first products from its High-NA EUV machines will arrive within months.
According to Investing.com, Dow futures dropped 84 points and S&P 500 futures fell 29 points in Tuesday's premarket session. Traders are awaiting Nvidia (NVDA) results to gauge whether AI chip demand remains intact.
Micron tumbled 5.95% and Western Digital lost 4.84%, leading declines across memory and storage names. The slide extends Monday's tech-led selloff that battered chip equities across the board.
Nvidia Earnings Setup
As reported by Barchart, Nvidia shares were trading at USD 222.32 with implied volatility hitting 77%. That level sits well above the 12-month low of 31.73%, signaling outsized expected price swings.
Sell-side conviction remains strong with 44 of 49 analysts rating NVDA a Strong Buy. Nvidia has also closed above the options-implied range following each of its last three earnings reports.
Data center demand will be the headline metric investors scrutinize from the print. A clean beat could revive sentiment across the broader semiconductor complex that has cooled in recent sessions.
Options markets are pricing a post-earnings move well above the historical average for Nvidia. Institutional traders are leaning on the elevated implied volatility through bull put spread strategies near the USD 210 and USD 205 strikes.
Iran peace deal uncertainty layers an additional macro risk over the earnings print this week. Markets are watching for President Trump's next statement on what he called serious negotiations underway in the region.
ASML High-NA Update
Per Investing.com, ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet said the first products from High-NA EUV machines will be exposed within months. He made the comments at an imec-organized conference in Belgium on May 19, 2026.
The High-NA tools from ASML cost up to USD 400 million each and underpin next-generation logic and memory production. ASML shares fell 1.15% while TSMC dropped 2.08% following the announcement.
TSMC, ASML's top customer, recently called the High-NA tools too expensive for current production runs. That cost friction adds pressure to the AI chip supply chain at a moment when expectations are stretched.
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) tracked the broader sector weakness into the Nvidia print. Investors are looking for confirmation that hyperscaler AI capex remains on track for the second half of the year.
First High-NA shipments will mark an inflection point for advanced node capacity at ASML's top customers. Adoption pace will set the cadence for next-generation chip launches from TSMC, Samsung, and Intel across 2026.
