New York, Feb 12, 2026, 06:46 EST — Premarket
- Intel stock tacked on roughly 0.5% ahead of the bell, building on the previous session’s 2.5% jump.
- U.S. stock futures nudged up, with traders eyeing Friday’s CPI inflation data.
- Memory shortages are once again driving up component costs, putting PC supply-chain issues back in the spotlight.
Intel Corp climbed 0.5% to $48.54 ahead of Thursday’s open, following a 2.46% advance to $48.29 at Wednesday’s close.
This shift carries weight as tech and chip names are back to moving on rate bets; investors are rethinking positions after a firmer U.S. jobs number and looking ahead to the next inflation data. U.S. stock index futures inched up, with the January Consumer Price Index set for release Friday, Feb. 13 at 8:30 a.m. Eastern.
Jobs numbers landed solidly—enough, strategists say, to keep the Fed from rushing to cut rates, but not enough to crush risk appetite. “Unambiguously good news,” said Art Hogan at B Riley Wealth. Jordan Rizzuto, over at Gammaroad Capital Partners, suggested investors might be underestimating how close the market is to a “neutral rate.” Reuters
Intel faces a macro environment layered over persistent supply and execution problems — demand isn’t the sticking point. Back in late January, the company guided for current-quarter revenue between $11.7 billion and $12.7 billion, admitting it couldn’t keep up with appetite for server CPUs paired with AI accelerators. CEO Lip-Bu Tan, speaking to analysts, called it “disappointing” that Intel hadn’t managed to meet all the demand. Reuters
PC demand isn’t escaping the spotlight. On Thursday, China’s Lenovo flagged that the intensifying memory-chip shortage is weighing on PC shipments and driving up prices. “We expect PC unit sales to face pressure,” CEO Yang Yuanqing said. Reuters
Intel shares have seen some turbulence this week, dropping 6.19% on Feb. 10, then rebounding 2.46% the very next day, historical pricing shows.
Chip investors are zeroed in on familiar pressure points: the pace at which server supply constraints fade, the resilience of PC pricing as component costs climb, and the risk that higher bond yields could drag down valuations again.
Friday’s inflation numbers might go either direction for markets. If CPI runs hot, yields could jump and weigh on tech stocks that are sensitive to rates. A softer read, though, might keep semiconductor names in demand—even in the absence of new headlines from the sector.
