Trade Tidal Wave Hits Nvidia Days Before Earnings

The pullback puts Nvidia below a $100 billion market cap

The semiconductor sector is often one of the hardest hit when trade tensions with China are on the rise, and we're seeing that today after the Asian nation announced shortly before U.S. markets opened that it was increasing tariffs. One name to watch during these moment, especially this week, is GPU giant Nvidia Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA). I say to pay particular attention to NVDA this week because the chipmaker is set to report earnings after the close this Thursday, May 16.

In the meantime, the stock actually received some bullish analyst attention this morning, with Morgan Stanley upping its price target to $170 from $148. This actually sits well below the average analyst price target of $187.86. So far today, NVDA shares are down 3.1% at $163.44.

The stock rallied off its late-2018 lows in the early months of 2019, but the 160-day moving average acted as a ceiling in April. Traders should now monitor the round $160 price point, which briefly acted as resistance in January and February. What's more, today's pullback puts the company's market cap just below the notable $100 billion mark.

Interestingly, early options activity suggests some traders are betting on an earnings bounce for the security. Specifically, more than 1,000 contracts have crossed at the May 162.50 call, with data pointing to buy-to-open activity. In other words, these traders could be expecting NVDA to end the week atop $162.50.