Easing of Trade Concerns Lifts Semiconductors

July 1, 2019 by Chris Lange

It’s been said that a rising tide lifts all ships, and that seems to be true in Monday’s trading session following the G-20 meeting over the weekend. There, President Trump met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, and has agreed to delay any new tariffs on Chinese goods, as well as allowing U.S. component suppliers to sell their goods to the Chinese tech giant Huawei.

When this trade war began in May, the VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (NYSEARCA: SMH) was near an all-time high. However, as trade tensions heightened over the course of May, this exchange-traded fund saw a drop off of roughly 16%. As these tensions have been somewhat resolved since, the fund is closing in on its all-time highs again.

It goes without saying that this ETF is being lifted by all of its components, some of the larger ones being Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD). Other tech companies are being lifted by this rising tide as well, such as Skyworks Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: SWKS), Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) and Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA).

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) may not be thrilled that the Huawei ban is being lifted, but with Chinese tariffs being relaxed the iPhone giant is more than content. Apple will still have to compete with Huawei and Samsung on the global stage.

Huawei achieved the highest year-over-year growth among the world’s top five smartphone producers. Its smartphone sales growing 69% and 33% in Europe and Greater China, respectively, get much of the credit. Note that Huawei has a 29.5% market share of Greater China’s smartphone market.

With this renewed vigor among semiconductors and components, it’s only a matter of time until Wall Street comes around and analysts correct themselves from what they said in May.


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