What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after President Donald Trump threatened to significantly increase tariffs on Chinese imports, reigniting trade war fears.
The threat immediately broke a monthslong calm on Wall Street, sending the S&P 500 down 1.2% in its worst session since August. For the industrial sector, which is heavily reliant on global supply chains, the prospect of new tariffs is particularly concerning. Aggressive U.S. trade policies lead to unpredictable input costs and disrupt manufacturing operations. This volatility weighs heavily on companies that depend on a stable international trade for both sourcing materials and selling finished goods, leading to a broad sell-off among industrial giants.
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:
- IT Distribution & Solutions company CDW (NASDAQ: CDW) fell 2.8%. Is now the time to buy CDW? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
- Specialized Technology company Crane NXT (NYSE: CXT) fell 2.9%. Is now the time to buy Crane NXT? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free for active Edge members.
Zooming In On Crane NXT (CXT)
Crane NXT’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 7 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 17 days ago when the stock gained 13.5% as the company announced it expected its U.S. Currency business to grow in the high-single-digits in 2026.
This bright forecast was based on the Federal Reserve Board's recently published 2026 print order. The order showed a significant projected jump in banknote demand, with the volume of larger bills—like $10, $20, $50, and $100 notes—expected to increase by about 90% compared to 2025. This surge in demand for higher-value currency, which Crane NXT's technology supports, signaled a positive outlook for the company's sales. The company also noted its support for the U.S. Currency Program's key goals, which included the introduction of a new $10 banknote. Following the news, analysts at DA Davidson reiterated their "Buy" rating on the stock, reinforcing the positive investor sentiment.
Crane NXT is up 13% since the beginning of the year, and at $66.25 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $68.91 from October 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Crane NXT’s shares at the IPO in March 2023 would now be looking at an investment worth $1,677.
Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.
