INTC Rips 25%, AMD Hits Record, and the Chip Party Is Just Getting Started

Let's start with the obvious: $INTC had its best week since the year 2000 — up 25% — on a WSJ report of a preliminary deal to manufacture chips for Apple. It's now up 200%+ year-to-date and trading at a forward PE of 113. That's not a valuation, that's a prayer. Meanwhile $AMD surged 18% to a record high after crushing Q1 estimates, with Goldman upgrading it to Buy and calling it an outsized beneficiary of enterprise agentic AI adoption. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index popped ~5.5% in a single session. Semis aren't just back — they're apparently running for president.

The macro backdrop is doing its best impression of a mixed salad. The S&P 500 closed above 7,300 for the first time ever, fueled by 82% of companies beating Q1 estimates and a solid jobs print. But KPMG's Diane Swonk is waving red flags: U6 underemployment hit 8.2%, core PCE is running at 4.4%, and she sees two more Fed rate hikes ahead. The FOMC already logged its most internal dissent since 1992 at its last meeting. iCapital's Sonali Basak is telling clients to hedge now before H2 liquidity fades. And Jeffrey Gundlach just called private credit a '2007 moment.' Cool cool cool.

Elsewhere: $DELL jumped 12% after a presidential endorsement (yes, really), $ZTS cratered 27% while $ELAN posted its best quarter since 2018, Lime filed for an IPO under $LIME, and Fundstrat's Tom Lee thinks semiconductor forward P/E at 22x is still cheap relative to its 20-year high of 35x. He's been right before. Annoyingly often, actually.