What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after markets faded the Nvidia rally in the morning session, as investors remained uncertain about future rate cuts. 

While the trading day began with significant enthusiasm, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average up more than 700 points and the Nasdaq Composite up 2.6%, momentum quickly evaporated as the session wore on. The primary catalyst for this sharp reversal was a stronger-than-expected jobs report, which reduced the implied odds of a December interest rate cut to less than 40%. This macroeconomic anxiety overshadowed stellar corporate performance. Nvidia initially surged 5% on blockbuster earnings and CEO Jensen Huang's bullish outlook on "off the charts" demand for Blackwell chips. However, the stock eventually turned negative, acting as a heavy weight that dragged the broader indices into the red. The sell-off partly reflects a deepening caution regarding high-flying tech valuations in a "higher-for-longer" rate environment. 

Consequently, investors appeared to rotate capital away from volatile growth sectors and toward defensive staples, evidenced by Walmart's 6% gain following its own earnings beat. Ultimately, the market could not sustain the morning's euphoria, as traders prioritized rate realities over AI potential.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Enterprise Networking company Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) fell 3%. Is now the time to buy Cisco? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Electronic Components & Manufacturing company Amphenol (NYSE: APH) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Amphenol? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Hardware & Infrastructure company NetApp (NASDAQ: NTAP) fell 2.8%. Is now the time to buy NetApp? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Electronic Components & Manufacturing company CTS (NYSE: CTS) fell 3.6%. Is now the time to buy CTS? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
• Hardware & Infrastructure company Diebold Nixdorf (NYSE: DBD) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Diebold Nixdorf? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.

Zooming In On CTS (CTS)

CTS’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 4 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 8 days ago when the stock gained 2.6% on the news that investors continued to pile into value-oriented names amid growing valuation concerns. This shift reflected growing caution over high valuations within the technology and artificial intelligence (AI) spheres. As market participants reassessed risk, they reallocated capital from growth-heavy indices, like the Nasdaq, to companies in areas like industrials and financials, perceived to be more reasonably priced. Contributing to the positive momentum, markets remained hopeful that a prolonged 40-day government shutdown would be over. The U.S. Senate approved a compromise funding package, which was pending a vote in the House. The potential end to the shutdown brought a sense of relief to markets.

CTS is down 22.4% since the beginning of the year, and at $40.27 per share, it is trading 29.3% below its 52-week high of $56.95 from December 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of CTS’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,310.

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