Why Nvidia (NVDA) Stock Is Trading Lower Today

What Happened?

Shares of leading designer of graphics chips Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) fell 3% in the afternoon session after the threat of a 'massive increase' in tariffs on Chinese goods by President Donald Trump, reignited fears of a trade war. 

In a social media post, Trump described China as becoming 'hostile,' sending a ripple of concern through the market. The semiconductor sector, which relies heavily on global supply chains and sales in China, was hit particularly hard. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index dropped 3.4% following the announcement. This development adds to existing tensions, including Beijing's recent expansion of export controls on rare earths and an antitrust probe into Qualcomm's acquisition of Autotalks. Investors are showing caution as the prospect of escalating trade disputes between the world's two largest economies could disrupt production and demand for chipmakers.

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What Is The Market Telling Us

Nvidia’s shares are quite volatile and have had 18 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 1 day ago when the stock gained 3% on the news that investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald raised its price target on the stock, reflecting strong confidence in the company's artificial intelligence growth prospects. 

The firm increased its price target to $300 from $240 while keeping an Overweight rating. This decision followed meetings where Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, and other executives detailed their vision for the ongoing build-out of AI infrastructure. Adding to the positive sentiment, Huang stated that demand for computing had gone up substantially. Furthermore, key Nvidia supplier TSMC reported a second straight month of over 30% growth, fueled by demand for advanced AI chips.

Nvidia is up 35.9% since the beginning of the year, and at $188.03 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $192.57 from October 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Nvidia’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $13,217.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story.