NEW YORK, May 16, 2026, 06:25 EDT
- AMD (AMD) dropped 5.69% to $424.10 on Friday, putting it down 6.8% for the week. The shares hit an intraday high of $469.21 Monday.
- Nasdaq is shut for the weekend. U.S. cash equity markets open again Monday, regular hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET.
- Bond yields, oil, and Nvidia’s China risks are in focus for traders ahead of Nvidia’s results on May 20 and the next session.
AMD shares stumbled on Friday, ending their AI-driven climb for now. The decline is raising new questions among investors if this is a temporary pullback or the start of a steeper slide.
Nasdaq falls 1.54% as AI shares stumble, AMD slides
AI favorites led declines Friday, with AMD dropping in a risk-off session. The Nasdaq Composite gave up a six-week winning run, closing at 26,225.15. Oil prices and Treasury yields moved higher. Some in the market started to question the AI rally’s staying power.
Stock trading is closed today. Nasdaq opens again on Monday, May 18, which is when AMD gets its next shot in regular trading. What happens over the weekend with oil, interest rates, or any China tech moves could sway the open.
AMD shares swung around this week. Strong May 5 earnings pushed the stock up at first, but it lost ground again as macro concerns weighed on fast-growing chip names. AMD reported Q1 revenue of $10.253 billion, a 38% gain from a year earlier. Adjusted EPS was $1.37. These non-GAAP results exclude items like acquisition charges and stock-based compensation. Data Center revenue, which covers AI server chips, jumped 57% to $5.8 billion.
AMD backed bulls with its latest guidance. The company is going for Q2 revenue around $11.2 billion, plus or minus $300 million, and is keeping adjusted gross margin close to 56%. Chair and CEO Lisa Su said Data Center is now powering both sales and profit, and fresh AI demand—including inference and agentic AI—is fueling interest in AMD’s CPUs and accelerators.
Nvidia is still out front, with Intel holding second. Reuters reports analysts now see AMD as Nvidia’s biggest AI chip rival—GPUs handle most AI tasks. CPUs are also drawing notice as more inference jobs move to them. Intel is viewed as a risk on server CPUs since it’s ramping its own fabs, while AMD is sticking with contract foundries like TSMC.
Wall Street analysts are still bullish on the opportunity here. Jake Behan, who runs capital markets at Direxion, said AMD showed AI demand is real, but said now it’s “all about turning it into high-margin revenue.” Michael O’Rourke at JonesTrading said Nvidia doesn’t have the first-mover edge it once did, with rivals closing in and “the pie has grown.” Matt Britzman from Hargreaves Lansdown called AMD a “broader compute opportunity.” Reuters
Valuation is still an issue for AMD. After the run, Reuters reported the stock trades at about 42.4 times forward earnings, a sharp premium to its five-year average of 30. That’s also nearly twice Nvidia’s forward P/E of 21, even as Nvidia has the lead in AI share. At least 20 brokerages lifted their AMD price targets after earnings. Evercore ISI’s target was the highest at $579, based on LSEG numbers cited by Reuters.
China made things more complicated over the last two days, this time involving Nvidia. Reuters reported that the U.S. approved H200 AI chip sales for about 10 Chinese companies, but no shipments so far. The following day, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer downplayed chip export controls as a major topic in U.S.-China discussions, so there’s still no momentum on an agreement.
If oil stays strong, Treasury yields keep climbing and Nvidia’s China story doesn’t clear up, AMD could stop trading on earnings and start to look more like another crowded AI trade under pressure. A drop below Friday’s $423.36 low would likely bring attention to AMD’s early-May range rather than its record.
The upside is clear too. If the bond market steadies, oil drops, and Nvidia’s Wednesday results land on the strong side, chip stocks could bounce. Nvidia is set to post fiscal Q1 2027 results on May 20 at 2 p.m. PT. That’s the next readout for AI chip demand.
AMD shares are expected to track the Nasdaq and chip sector on Monday, with no fresh news driving the stock. If AMD can stay above last Friday’s low, especially after dropping 6.8% last week, the stock may pause. A move above Friday’s $439 high could steady sentiment. But if the Nasdaq falls again on higher yields, that could pressure AMD early and put the focus back on AI-driven demand for the stock.
