Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] It has been a rough start for the semiconductor space. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is down 3.0%. The weakness in NVIDIA (NVDA 174.06, -6.11, -3.39%) is a major pressure point there, along with the fallout in Marvell (MRVL 63.94, -13.29, -17.21%) after its relatively disappointing earnings report.

The broader selling interest among the semiconductors is perhaps best captured in the weakness in Lam Research (LRCX 99.66, -4.42, -4.25%), which is down despite announcing a 13% increase in its quarterly dividend.

Separately, there is a Wall Street Journal report that suggests Section 232 tariffs are likely to expand in coming months, so the semiconductor stocks could be getting caught up some in that draft.

Copper, steel, aluminum, and pharmaceutical stocks, however, are not experiencing the same pressure, so the outsized weakness in the semiconductor space today could also simply be a profit-taking effort catalyzed by the underperformance of NVIDIA and certainly Marvell's disappointment.