Nvidia, Intel, Marvell Plunge as Rate-Hike Fears Crash AI Stocks Into Weekend

The Quick Take

• Nvidia, Intel, Marvell and other AI chipmakers plunged on Friday, dragging the Nasdaq into a sharp weekend selloff
• Germany's financial media described the session as a 'Black Friday' for AI stocks as rate-hike fears from the US jobs report hit tech valuations
• The strong US labor market data crushed investor hopes for interest rate cuts, triggering a broad tech-sector derating in global markets

German financial news outlets FinanzNachrichten and Wallstreet Online both reported a dramatic Friday selloff in AI and chipmaker stocks, with Nvidia, Intel, Marvell and other technology leaders falling sharply as the strong US jobs report eliminated traders' rate-cut expectations. The session was described as a 'Schwarzer Freitag' (Black Friday) for AI stocks at Wall Street, reflecting the magnitude of the valuation reset triggered by the hawkish macro signal. The Nasdaq, heavily weighted toward technology and AI-adjacent businesses, bore the brunt of the selling as the higher-for-longer rate environment compressed growth multiples across the sector.

AI chipmakers are particularly rate-sensitive because their elevated price-to-earnings multiples are justified primarily by future earnings expectations discounted at current rates — when rates rise, those future cash flows are worth less in present value terms, directly compressing valuations. For Nvidia specifically, any compression in its premium multiple has outsize index effects given its extraordinary weighting in major US indices. The European tech sector, heavily correlated with US Nasdaq movements, faced sympathetic selling across listed semiconductor and AI software companies, reinforcing the global synchronization of tech equity weakness during rate-repricing events.

Watch the Nasdaq's behavior in the sessions following the jobs print — if selling accelerates, it signals that institutional positioning remains overlength on AI stocks and forced de-grossing is underway. Nvidia's next earnings report and guidance will be a critical re-anchoring event: if AI infrastructure demand guidance is maintained or raised despite higher rates, the selloff may prove a buying opportunity. The macro variable is the 10-year US Treasury yield trajectory — each 25-basis-point rise in real yields historically suppresses Nasdaq P/E multiples by 1.5-2 turns, providing a mathematical framework for gauging how deep the tech correction may run.

Synthesized from 2 sources.