Nvidia Eases as Traders Trim Chip Bets Two Days Before Its Earnings

Nvidia slipped in Monday trading, changing hands near $210, down from Friday’s close of $214.72. The pressure was not company-specific. Investors spent the session pulling money out of chip stocks two days before Nvidia reports quarterly results, and the largest name in the group fell with the rest.

The chipmakers led it down

The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 both opened lower. The weakness sat in semiconductors. Advanced Micro Devices, Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor were all falling in morning trading, several of them by more than the broad market. Analysts described the move as de-risking ahead of a sector catalyst, the kind of position-trimming that tends to build in the sessions before a report that can reset an entire trade. Nvidia has confirmed it will post fiscal second-quarter results on Wednesday, August 26, after the close, with a call scheduled for 5 p.m. Eastern.

Wall Street has set a high bar

The reason one report carries that weight is the size of what is expected. Analysts polled ahead of the print see revenue near $92 billion, close to double the figure from a year earlier, and Nvidia itself guided to about $91 billion. A beat is largely assumed. That leaves the reaction hard to handicap: a quarter that merely matches an already lofty consensus can still disappoint a market positioned for more, which is part of why some investors chose to lighten up first.

A space deal arrived the same day

Company news did cross on Monday, and it pointed the other way. SpaceX’s AI unit said it would adopt Nvidia’s forthcoming Vera processor to run what it calls agentic AI workloads, extending a supply relationship the rocket maker described earlier this month as an exclusive commitment to Nvidia’s chip architecture. The announcement also named longer-term plans to put that hardware in orbit. The market shrugged. It did little for the share price on a day when the tape was moving on positioning rather than product news.

Still shy of the spring peak

Even after Monday’s dip, Nvidia sits well above where it traded in the spring. The stock changed hands around $198 in mid-April and worked higher through the summer, touching $225 in mid-August before easing back. Monday’s level left it roughly 11% below its 52-week high of $236.54, with a market value above $5 trillion that keeps it among the most heavily weighted stocks in the major indexes. The wider market did not help. Oil and geopolitics were in focus, with fresh U.S. sanctions pressure on Iran feeding a cautious mood.

Wednesday after the close

The next real test comes Wednesday, when the results and management’s guidance for the current quarter land after the market closes, followed by the 5 p.m. call. Traders will watch the revenue line against that $92 billion marker and, just as closely, the outlook Nvidia gives for the quarters ahead. Until then, the pullback in chip stocks reflects positioning ahead of a number no one has seen yet. The report is still days away.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.