(Photo by ROB ENGELAAR/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

The speed bump in the AI-chip trade, in one chart

The market seems to have gotten over Tuesday’s news of a sharp slowdown in orders for the most sophisticated chipmaking machines on earth.

Matt Phillips

10/16/24 11:25AM

Global semiconductor shares are rebounding a bit on Wednesday, a day after ASML, the Dutch chip-equipment-maker at the heart of the semiconductor boom, tanked giants like Nvidia and Broadcom.

If you want to know why investors hit the brakes on the AI-chip trade yesterday, look no further than this chart:

As part of ugly earnings results released Tuesday, ASML said the value of the new orders it booked in Q3 halved from Q2 levels, down to €2.6 billion ($2.74 billion), far below analysts’ expectations of roughly €4.1 billion.

The miss raised questions about the durability of demand for chip equipment, and by extension, whether the market’s AI-fueled bullishness over chip stocks may have gone way beyond what’s justified by fundamentals.

High-flying chip shares, many of which have been key drivers of this year’s stock market rally, tumbled in response: Nvidia dropped more than 4%, Broadcom fell more than 3%, Applied Materials slid more than 10%, and Arm Holding fell nearly 7%.

But so far Wednesday morning, they’ve recovered some of those gains (see VanEck Semiconductor ETF rising), with the emerging consensus being that ASML’s orders reflect struggles in non-AI chipmaking, rather than in the area of the market folks are most excited about.

Another related explanation centers on the fact that Chinese buyers may have pulled forward orders to try to get ahead of any additional trade tensions that could emerge throughout the US election season.

So after a brief wobble, the chip-stock rally seems to be back on track — though the scale of the miss from ASML should highlight the risk that stock-market enthusiasm could be getting slightly ahead of business realities.

Tom Jones

hut’s off

6/1/26

Yum! Brands might have found a potential buyer for Pizza Hut

Yum! is in exclusive talks with private equity firm LongRange Capital about a sale, per reports.

Hyunsoo Rim

hot dogs & half tanks

6/1/26

Costco’s gas stations are breaking records as drivers seek cheaper fuel

Higher prices have pushed many members to the retailer’s pumps for the first time.

Max Knoblauch5/29/26

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones5/29/26

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.