Week in Review: C-Suite Interviews, Big Tech Equity Moves

Interviews this past week show strong optimism in choppy markets as tension in the Middle East subsides and investors rotate from crowded technology trades but find other places to park.

It was a momentous week: U.S. oil prices sank to roughly $69 per barrel and semiconductors sold off. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) was up 0.6%, the S&P 500 (SPX) slipped about 2%, while the Nasdaq Composite ($COMP) sank nearly 5%. The Russell 2000 (RUT) rose about 1%. West Texas Intermediate crude (/CL) futures ended the week down about 7% as shipments moved through the Strait of Hormuz, albeit with tensions.

The CBOE Market Volatility Index (VIX) jumped for the week, to near 18.41, while the PHLX Semiconductor Sector Index (SOX) lost about 8% of its value of its value.

Explaining the week’s tech sector selling pressure and the semiconductor “chip dip,” Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist with the Schwab Center for Financial Research, notes two things: Demand is strong, but questions remain about supply chain delivery with reasonable pricing. In addition, Sonders says, “chips have become a very crowded trade, and there is so much short-term money … that can turn on a dime.”

Here are some interviews you might have missed including the Qualcomm (QCOM) chief financial officer, the Twilio (TWLO) CEO, and entertainment legend Ice Cube, co-founder of BIG3, on startup fundraising.

What Leaders Are Saying About Tech Growth Opportunities, Tech Stock Rotation

• Qualcomm (QCOM) CFO & COO Akash Palkhiwala talks about AI data center inference processing with low power workloads, and the firm’s non-handset 2029 revenue target, which increased from $22B to $40B. He also discusses early customers Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT).

• Producing numbers on AI data center usage are what Qualcomm (QCOM) needs to show markets, says Tiernan Ray, CEO and publisher of The Technology Letter. He also assesses selling pressure from Korea’s KOSPI and profit taking in Micron Technology (MU), Sandisk (SNDK), Western Digital (WDC), and Seagate Technology (STX).

• Joe Mazzola, head trading and derivatives strategist at Schwab, discusses the rotation out of tech as companies with high valuations borrow, threatening the cost of capital and earnings. He also discusses the impact of leverage in South Korea trading.

• Twilio (TWLO) CEO Khozema Shipchandler talks about agentic AI, voice growth, and profitability.

• Longbow Asset Management CEO Jake Dollarhide contemplates Big Tech’s impact on index performance in a “directionless” market.

Things to Evaluate as Markets Rotate

• Rapper Ice Cube, a.k.a. O’Shea Jackson, co-founder of 3-on-3 basketball league The BIG3, talks about fundraising with a SPAC and the global growth potential for basketball.

• Nancy Prial, Co-CEO of Essex Investment Management, suggests investors should look beyond direct AI investments to current and emerging sources of earnings and valuation strength. Her short list includes small-cap stocks, pharmaceuticals, biotech, and housing investments.

• One homebuilding exchange-traded fund rose nearly 5% on the week. Read, “Three Ways to View Housing Even If You Can’t Buy a Home.”

Energy and Iran: Crude Oil Plummets from March Highs

• After the U.S.-Iran war energy shock, countries around the world need to replenish oil in storage. But is the WTI benchmark oil price floor $75 per barrel? Factors for ship owners and their customers, including insurance, mean that shipments from the Strait of Hormuz are “a long way” from smooth sailing and returning for resupply, says Tucker Perkins, president and CEO of the Propane Education & Research Council.

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