Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) Stock Forecasts

Summary

Technology and the massive AI trade took it on the chin on August 19, dragging some of the major indices down and creating some developments worth monitoring. The Nasdaq dropped 1.5% and the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) fell 1.4%, led lower by weakness in the mega-cap semiconductor and software stocks. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) lost 1.6%, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) declined 2%, the Dow Jones U.S. Semiconductor Index gave back 3%, the DJ U.S. Software Index was off 2%, and the iShares Tech-Software ETF (IGV) sank 2.6%. Many of the beloved IT names were whacked, including NVDA, AVGO, TSM, AMD, ARM, MSFT, ORCL, and PLTR, which all fell 1.4% to 9.4%. The QQQ as well as the SOXX and the SMH closed at or near their 21-day exponential moving averages. The software indices broke below their 50-day averages for the first time since early this year and broke down from short-term topping formations. In addition, the highflying (mostly IT) IPOs from 2025 were smacked hard. On the flipside, five of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose between 0.6% and 1.8% — and they were mostly defensive areas. Real Estate, Consumer Staples, and Utilities led with gains of 1% to 1.8%, while Healthcare and Materials gained 0.6%. As of this writing, the QQQ has traced out multiple bearish divergences with