Nvidia (NVDA) led chip stock higher on Friday after the broader market saw gains after several days of technology-led selloffs, especially in the software sector.
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) rose around 1.2%. At the same time, the benchmark S&P 500 (SP500) climbed about 1.3%. The blue-chip Dow (DJI) had advanced by about 1.8%.
AI chipmaker Nvidia’s (NVDA) stock jumped about 7%. Earlier this week, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he thought this week’s sell-off of software company shares was “illogical.”
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) soared around 7%. Broadcom (AVGO) grew nearly 4%, while Qualcomm (QCOM) rose around 1%.
Shares of Marvell Technology (MRVL) surged around 6%, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) and Lattice Semiconductor (LSCC) each soared nearly 4%. Intel (INTC) rose about 3%, GlobalFoundries (GFS) climbed around 2%, while Micron Technology (MU) was also in the green. Meanwhile, Texas Instruments (TXN) fell nearly 2%, and Analog Devices (ADI) dipped around 1%, seeming to buck the trend.
Chip equipment makers: Lam Research (LRCX) and KLA (KLAC) each surged around 7%. Applied Materials (AMAT) jumped nearly 5%, and ASML (ASML) rose about 4%.
Enterprise software stocks were largely in the red in the past few days. Analysts at William Blair had said that fear and not fundamentals was behind the recent reactions to software stocks. The analysts added that growth is broadly not accelerating in software, while it is in sectors exposed to AI.
Rick Sherlund, founder of AI software investment bank Sherlund Partners, had said that “The software sector, every 10 15 years, goes through a forest fire.” Sherlund believes the market is on the verge of a significant upswing despite recent pullbacks in tech stocks.
Last week, shares of Microsoft (MSFT) had tumbled despite impressive second-quarter results. On Friday, several software stocks, including Microsoft, were in the green. Snowflake (SNOW) surged about 7%, Oracle (ORCL) climbed nearly 4%, while Microsoft rose around 1%.
On Thursday, Wedbush (IVES) said Microsoft (MSFT), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), CrowdStrike (CRWD), Snowflake (SNOW), and Salesforce (CRM) are the five software stocks to own amid what it calls the “software apocalypse.”
Cybersecurity stocks were also up on Friday. CrowdStrike (CRWD) and Fortinet (FTNT) each climbed around 3%, while Datadog (DDOG) gained about 2% and Cloudflare (NET) rose nearly 1%.