Intel stock closes above 50-day average as AMD plummets

Intel Corp. shares closed above a key technical level for the first time since mid-June as shares bounced back Tuesday while shares of up-and-coming rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. sold off.

Intel

INTC, +3.55%

 shares led Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJIA, +0.46%

 components higher with a 3.6% gain to close at $48.10, after reaching an intraday high of $48.88. The stock also led gainers on the PHLX Semiconductor Index

SOX, +0.03%

which closed up less than 0.1%.

For its part, the Dow average finished up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 index

SPX, -0.04%

 closed down less than 0.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index

COMP, -0.47%

 fell 0.5%. For the year, Intel shares are up 4.2%, compared with an 8.3% gain in the Dow, a 9.4% advance in the SOX index, a 9.3% rise in the S&P 500 and a 15.9% gain in the Nasdaq.

Intel’s stock passed above a key technical level Tuesday with shares closing above the stock’s 50-day moving average for the first time since June 15, a week the chip maker announced that then-Chief Executive Brian Krzanich resigned for violating employee relationship policies, adding to woes that the chip maker was losing ground to AMD

AMD, -7.64%

 

FactSet

Intel’s stock rose 3.1% on Friday after Intel’s Chief Financial Officer Bob Swan said the company had enough chip supply to meet revenue forecasts for the year. But then dropped 1.8% after Barclays analyst Blayne Curtis cut Intel’s stock to an underweight rating Monday on a “costly battle to retain share” versus AMD.

Read: AMD vs. Intel: Balance of chip maker power appears to shift

AMD shares moved counter to Intel’s as they have for much of the year ever since the Spectre and Meltdown chip vulnerabilities appeared to affect Intel chips more. AMD shares, which are the best performing on the S&P 500 index for the year with a 182% gain, dropped 7.6% to close at $29.02, their first sub-$30 close since Sept. 10, as Intel gained, and as AMD received a downgrade to neutral from Baird analyst Tristan Gerra.

FactSet

Other chip-related companies with significant gains Tuesday included Applied Materials Inc.

AMAT, +1.46%

 , Micron Technology Inc.

MU, +1.35%

 , Qualcomm Inc.

QCOM, +1.03%

 and ON Semiconductor Corp.

ON, +1.85%

 

Get the top tech stories of the day delivered to your inbox. Subscribe to MarketWatch’s free Tech Daily newsletter. Sign up here.