NVIDIA (NVDA) Sinks as Semis Open Red After GTC Hype Fizzles Out
NVIDIA (NVDA) shares fell 1.37% to $177.93 on March 19, dragging semiconductor stocks lower despite Jensen Huang’s bullish GTC keynote just days earlier.
The selloff follows Micron Technology’s (MU) after-hours drop and surging oil prices tied to the escalating Iran war, adding fresh headwinds to a chip sector already struggling with “sell the news” fatigue.
Semiconductors Break Their Pattern
CNBC’s Mad Money host Jim Cramer noted that NVIDIA’s price action on March 19 broke a persistent pattern where the stock would open higher only to reverse lower throughout the session. This time, it opened red from the start and kept falling.
“Nvidia breaking the pattern of opening up and then reversing and going down. Today it went down from the get go and then goes lower…. could it be the opposite today?” Jim Cramer observed.
Cramer described the semiconductor sector as “very oversold,” suggesting traders should expect attempts to test the moving average “at least once or twice.”
Owing to the “inverse Cramer” effect, the comment signals a contrarian view that the current dip could set up a reversal rather than further downside.
On Micron specifically, Cramer pushed back against bearish calls, arguing that competitors like Applied Materials (AMAT), KLA, and Lam Research were not ramping equipment output, and memory rivals SanDisk, Western Digital (WDC), and Seagate (STX) were not expanding capacity.
“That’s why when the smoke clears, you buy, not sell,” stated Jim Cramer.
Micron’s Record Quarter Meets Sell-the-News Reaction
Micron reported fiscal Q2 revenue of $23.86 billion, nearly tripling from $8.05 billion a year earlier. Adjusted earnings hit $12.20 per share, smashing the $8.60 consensus estimate by more than 41%. The company also guided Q3 revenue to $33.5 billion, well above Wall Street’s $24.3 billion projection.
However, MU shares slid roughly 4.4% in after-hours trading. The stock had already surged 62% year to date before the report, and investors focused on a revised capital expenditure outlook exceeding $25 billion for fiscal 2026, up from a prior $20 billion projection.
Trader Gareth Soloway flagged the Micron selloff as a warning sign, pointing to oil near $100 per barrel and spiking inflation as reasons investors could face another rough session. He noted that charts “still remain very bearish.”
GTC Hype Meets Geopolitical Reality
Jensen Huang’s GTC keynote on March 16 delivered significant announcements, including $1 trillion in projected orders for Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems through 2027, a new inference chip based on Groq’s language processing unit technology, and the NemoClaw enterprise AI agent platform.
Yet NVIDIA stock has failed to hold gains since the event. TD Cowen analysts noted that NVIDIA’s $4.45 trillion market cap may have crossed a threshold where traditional equity dynamics no longer apply.
Among them, fund-flow and portfolio-construction constraints capping upside even as business fundamentals strengthen.
Compounding the pressure, Brent crude spiked above $119 per barrel on March 19 after Iran attacked energy facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The broader conflict has disrupted roughly 20% of global oil supplies transiting the Strait of Hormuz, pushing inflation expectations higher and weighing on growth-sensitive sectors like semiconductors.
Whether Cramer’s “very oversold” call proves correct may hinge on whether the moving average support holds and whether oil-driven inflation fears ease in the sessions ahead.
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