On July 13, KLA Corporation fell 4.33% in regular trading, trading at $221.96/share, with turnover of $112 million. The decline came amid growing signs that the market's most popular trade — buying chip stocks and selling software stocks — is unraveling, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index having fallen approximately 12% in July.

The shift in the AI narrative is placing sustained pressure on the semiconductor equipment sector. Peer stocks declined broadly, with Applied Materials down 4.56%, Lam Research down 5.02%, Teradyne down 3.99%, and AXT Inc down 7.07%. Morgan Stanley had previously raised its target price for KLA from $190 to $274, representing a 44% increase, but near-term industry-level selling pressure continues to dominate trading rhythm.

Fund manager surveys indicate that over 80% of institutions view long semiconductor positions as the market's most crowded trade, reaching a survey record high. Leveraged funds have poured into triple-leveraged semiconductor ETFs, pushing crowding metrics to the 92nd percentile over five years, heightening vulnerability to cascading sell-offs.

(The above content is based on publicly available market information, generated by a program or algorithm, and is intended solely as a stock movement alert. It does not constitute investment advice or a basis for trading decisions.)