What Happened?
Shares of computer processor maker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) fell 10.9% in the afternoon session after China imposed a 34% tariff on all U.S. imports amid escalating trade war tensions. This was especially rough for the US chipmakers because a big chunk of their business leans on demand out of China. The new tariffs not only threaten to erode profit margins but also risk reducing market share.
Adding to the uncertainty, the Trump administration signaled the possibility of further regulatory action against the sector. Although semiconductor firms were notably excluded from the broad tariffs unveiled on April 2, 2025, their exclusion raised concerns that targeted restrictions could still be forthcoming.
The shares closed the day at $19.86, down 11.5% from previous close.
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What The Market Is Telling Us
Intel’s shares are very volatile and have had 29 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for Intel and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 18 days ago when the stock gained 8.5% on the news that a Reuters report revealed that the new CEO Lip-Bu Tan planned to introduce a series of measures to drive value. Some of the measures include "a cutback on middle management, improvement in the company's chip-manufacturing performance, and the introduction of new semiconductors to power artificial intelligence servers." The stock's reaction suggested that the market interpreted this as positive news in line with the expectations for the positive change investors had anticipated.
Intel is down 2.4% since the beginning of the year, and at $19.74 per share, it is trading 50.3% below its 52-week high of $39.73 from April 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Intel’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $337.84.
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