Today’s Market Movers: Chips Slide, Nike Stumbles, and One Energy Stock Just Jumped 8%

TLDR

• Chip stocks including Micron, Intel, Nvidia, and AMD fell in premarket trading Wednesday after recent gains
• Nike dropped 3% despite beating earnings estimates, with revenue down 1% and a cautious outlook ahead
• Alcoa fell 4% after agreeing to buy South32’s aluminum assets for $4.1 billion
• Software stocks bucked the trend, with ServiceNow up 5%, Salesforce up 3.4%, and Oracle up 1.7%
• Bloom Energy surged 8% after expanding its Brookfield partnership to $25 billion for AI power projects

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Stocks drifted lower Wednesday morning as Wall Street kicked off the second half of the trading year. Technology shares led the declines, with chip stocks pulling back after a strong run.

Chip Stocks Pull Back After Rally

Micron fell more than 3% in premarket trading. Intel, Nvidia, and Marvell also dropped.

Micron Technology, Inc., MU

Advanced Micro Devices fell 1.5% after surging 7.7% the day before to close at a record high. Its market cap had reached $947 billion on Tuesday.

The chip pullback came as investors digested recent gains and awaited comments from newly confirmed Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at a central banking summit.

Nike Falls Despite Earnings Beat

Nike shares fell 3% after reporting fiscal fourth-quarter results late Tuesday. The company beat both earnings and revenue estimates, but expectations were already low going in.

Earnings came in at 72 cents per share. That number included a 52-cent benefit tied to expected recovery of import tariffs, which made the headline figure less clear-cut.

Revenue fell 1% year over year to $11 billion. Greater China revenue beat estimates but still dropped 12% compared to the same period last year.

Nike said it expects first-quarter revenue to fall in the low-to-mid single digits. Chief Executive Elliott Hill said the company is focused on its turnaround plan.

Software and Other Movers

While chips fell, software stocks gained. ServiceNow rose around 5%, Salesforce climbed 3.4%, and Oracle edged 1.7% higher. This pattern has repeated itself several times this year.

Bloom Energy jumped 8% after the company expanded its partnership with Brookfield Asset Management. The funding commitment for AI infrastructure power projects grew from $5 billion to $25 billion, supported by Brookfield’s $100 billion AI Infrastructure Fund.

Alcoa dropped more than 4% after agreeing to acquire aluminum, bauxite, and alumina assets from Australia’s South32 for $4.1 billion. South32 shares rose 9.7% in Sydney trading.

Kroger fell 3% after announcing a $1.65 billion deal to buy grocery chain Giant Eagle. The acquisition covers 197 supermarkets and 11 pharmacies across Midwest markets.

Agricultural sciences company FMC rose 6.4% after Belgian group Tessenderlo agreed to make a $400 million minority equity investment.

Papa John’s slipped 4% after naming Chris Collins as interim CFO, replacing Ravi Thanawala, who is leaving to take a CFO role at another public company.

Markets are also watching indirect talks between Washington and Tehran being held through mediators in Doha.