NEW YORK, December 31, 2025, 15:13 ET — Regular session
- Qualcomm shares fall about 1% in afternoon trading, lagging the broader chip group.
- Tech stocks drift lower in holiday-thin year-end trading, with investors repositioning into 2026.
- Focus shifts to the Fed’s late-January meeting and Qualcomm’s Feb. 4 earnings report.
QUALCOMM Incorporated shares slipped in afternoon trading on Wednesday, underperforming the broader semiconductor group as U.S. stocks edged lower in holiday-thin year-end trading.
The final session of the year often brings portfolio rebalancing and profit-taking — selling to lock in gains — which can amplify moves even when there is little company-specific news.
Wall Street’s main indexes were slightly lower on the day, with technology shares dipping as traders looked ahead to 2026, Reuters reported.
At 3:13 p.m. ET, Qualcomm was down $1.79, or about 1.0%, at $171.86 after trading between $171.76 and $173.94.
The iShares Semiconductor ETF was down about 0.8%, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF slipped roughly 0.4%.
Among peers, Broadcom, Texas Instruments and NXP Semiconductors were each down about 0.5% to 0.6%. Nvidia was little changed, while U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor rose nearly 2%.
“I do not expect that the last few days will have so much bearing on the performance of the next year,” said Giuseppe Sette, co-founder and president of Reflexivity, pointing to profit-taking when liquidity is low. Reuters
Semiconductor sentiment also stayed tied to headlines around AI chip demand and export policy. Reuters reported Nvidia has asked Taiwan Semiconductor to ramp up production of its H200 chips to meet strong demand from Chinese technology firms, a reminder that policy shifts can ripple across the sector.
For Qualcomm, investors continue to balance its core handset exposure with its push into new markets such as automotive, connected devices and data centers — a strategy that has been central to its pitch as smartphone demand normalizes.
In November, Qualcomm forecast first-quarter results above analyst estimates, citing demand for premium smartphones that support AI applications, Reuters reported.
The next scheduled company catalyst is its fiscal first-quarter earnings conference call on Feb. 4, according to Qualcomm’s investor events calendar.
Between now and then, traders are likely to keep one eye on macro policy signals. The Federal Reserve meets on Jan. 27-28, with investors currently expecting the central bank to leave rates unchanged, Reuters reported, and U.S. markets are closed on Thursday for New Year’s Day.
