What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled a cautious stance on future monetary policy decisions during a speech in Chicago, emphasizing that trade tariffs could add upward pressure to inflation in the short term and complicate the Fed's efforts to stabilize the economy. He warned that such trade measures are "likely to move us further away from our goals," referring to the Fed's dual mandate of price stability and maximum employment.
The comments did little to improve sentiment, as major indices were already in the negative territory in the morning session after Nvidia announced it might be unable to sell some high-end chips (including the H20 chips) to China due to export controls and requirements from the Trump administration. As a result, the company planned to take a $5.5 billion charge due to inventory writedowns and canceled sales. Adding to the sector's pressure, chip tool maker ASML posted weak bookings (a key demand indicator) which fell below Wall Street's expectations, noting that tariffs had made the industry's outlook more uncertain.
Taken together, these updates likely fueled investor anxiety, amplifying concerns about global trade tensions, tech sector vulnerability, and the Fed's limited room to maneuver in an increasingly uncertain macro environment.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, following stocks were impacted:
- Renewable Energy company Bloom Energy (NYSE: BE) fell 5.8%. Is now the time to buy Bloom Energy? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Electronic Components & Manufacturing company Rogers (NYSE: ROG) fell 5%. Is now the time to buy Rogers? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Custom Parts Manufacturing company 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD) fell 5.7%. Is now the time to buy 3D Systems? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Therapeutics company Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA) fell 5.5%. Is now the time to buy Moderna? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Traditional Media & Publishing company EchoStar (NASDAQ: SATS) fell 5%. Is now the time to buy EchoStar? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Bloom Energy (BE)
Bloom Energy’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 65 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 6 days ago when the stock dropped 7.9% after stocks gave back some of the gains from the previous day as the White House clarified the tariffs on imports from China would add up to 145%, while the baseline 10% tariffs remained in place for all countries.
This reminded markets that the global trade environment remained volatile, limiting the potential for sustained gains. Also, President Trump said he was willing to accept pain in the short term, and was aware his policies could cause a recession, but he remained more mindful of a more severe case of economic depression (higher unemployment and prolonged downturn). For investors, this suggested that the administration could prioritize long-term structural shifts over near-term economic stability, further increasing policy-driven risk in the markets.
Bloom Energy is down 23.7% since the beginning of the year, and at $17.83 per share, it is trading 40.2% below its 52-week high of $29.81 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Bloom Energy’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,752.
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