By George Glover
Nvidia stock was sliding on Thursday as trade uncertainty overshadowed CEO Jensen Huang's European tour.
Shares in the chip maker slid 1% to $141.44 ahead of the opening bell. Futures tracking the S&P 500 were 0.5% lower.
Investors were in a risk-off mood after President Donald Trump pledged to set unilateral tariff rates within the next week or two, days after his administration struck a deal to impose 55% levies on China. The developments have chipped away at the market's confidence in the so-called TACO trade -- referring to the idea that "Trump always chickens out" when it comes to trade policy. That pessimism is likely what was denting Nvidia stock.
Huang delivered a keynote speech at the chip maker's artificial-intelligence developer conference in France on Wednesday. He announced a raft of new partnerships with European companies and said the company would establish and expand AI technology centers in Germany, Sweden, Italy, Spain, the U.K., and Finland.
Shares barely moved on Huang's speech -- but that doesn't mean there aren't takeaways for investors. Evercore analyst Mark Lipacis said in a research note late Wednesday that the key points included Nvidia's plan to build out about $1.5 trillion in AI capacity over the next decade and Huang's assertion that quantum computing appeared to be reaching an inflection point. Lipacis rates the stock at Outperform, with a $190 price target that implies it can jump 33% from its level as of Wednesday's close.
Shares in other chip makers were also sliding on Thursday as the mood on Wall Street soured. Advanced Micro Devices slipped 0.2%, Broadcom dropped 1.1%, Intel fell 0.4%, and Qualcomm tumbled 1.2% ahead of the opening bell.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
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June 12, 2025 04:29 ET (08:29 GMT)
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