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Chips Rise, Software Slides Again as Friday's Split Extends

Chips up again, software down again — Friday's split is turning into a trend

Second session of the same trade, and it is widening: the optical and hardware names are up 7% to 12%, Intel 9%, AMD through $500, while Shopify falls 7%, Intuit, Workday and Booking 6%, and ServiceNow, Salesforce and Adobe 3% to 4%. Not all chips are created equal either: Infineon and BE Semiconductor are down almost 4% while the US complex rises. Oracle climbs into Thursday's report, three earnings cards get graded at the close.

In this edition

SOXX SMH IGV CLOU MAGS LITE GLW COHR

The Midday 10 Tue, Sep 8, 2026 ~60 seconds 12:00 ET

Friday's jobs report split the technology trade in two, and the first session after the long weekend is running the same split harder and wider. Everything that sells physical AI capacity is being bought: the semiconductor index is up more than 2%, the optical and connectivity names are up 7% to 12%, Intel is up 9% on a report of CPU price rises, AMD has cleared $500 for the first time. Everything that sells software subscriptions is being sold: Shopify is down 7%, Intuit and Workday 6%, ServiceNow, Salesforce and Adobe 3% to 4%, with no company news behind any of it. And the chip side is not one trade either: Infineon and BE Semiconductor are down almost 4% in Europe while the US complex rises. The rest of the market is slightly lower, the Dow more so, because its biggest technology weights sit on the wrong side of the line. This is the second day of a rotation, and second days are when a session becomes a trend.

US midday, intraday quotes (delayed, ~11:50 ET)

  1. ETF board: chips up two and a half, software down two, again
  2. Lumentum up 12%, Corning 10%, Coherent 10%, Intel 9%
  3. Shopify down 7%, Intuit, Workday and Booking down 6%
  4. Not all chips are created equal: Infineon and BESI down 4%, Nvidia down too
  5. The Dow is down 1% because its biggest tech names are
  6. Bonds flat, gold lower, oil higher, dollar softer
  7. Oracle up 3.7% into Thursday's report
  8. Friday's chart pick is extending, and our flow read agrees
  9. Inflation week frames all of it: PPI Thursday, CPI Friday
  10. Three earnings cards get graded at today's close

The ten lines

  1. 1

    BOARD ETF board: chips up two and a half, software down two, again

    SOXXSMHIGVCLOUMAGS

    The same row of numbers as Friday, one notch smaller. The semiconductor ETFs are up again: SOXX about 2.5%, SMH about 2%, the Philadelphia index 2.2%. The software funds are down again: IGV 1.6%, the cloud fund CLOU 2.7%. The Magnificent Seven ETF MAGS is only slightly lower, held up by Tesla and Alphabet. The broad indices are quiet around it: S&P 500 down 0.35%, Nasdaq flat, Russell 2000 down 0.2%. Two sessions in a row with the same sign on both sides of the board is what a rotation looks like when it is being extended rather than reversed.

  2. 2

    UP Lumentum up 12%, Corning 10%, Coherent 10%, Intel 9%

    LITEGLWCOHRCIENINTCAMD

    The biggest gains of the session are in the parts of the AI build-out that carry light rather than compute it. Lumentum is up about 12% at $988, Corning 10%, Coherent almost 10%, Ciena 7%: lasers, glass fibre and optical switching, the connectivity layer between the chips. Behind them Intel is up 9% after DigiTimes reported CPU price rises planned for early October, on top of Friday's 4.5% gain, and AMD is up 6.6% and traded above $500 for the first time with no single company catalyst. Applied Materials and Lam Research, the equipment makers, are up 3.5% to 4%. When suppliers can raise prices and the market pays 10% for it, that is demand talking.

  3. AI Credit Stress Six rungs from investment grade to distress — whether the AI build-out’s funding is holding. Open the tape →
  4. 3

    DOWN Shopify down 7%, Intuit, Workday and Booking down 6%

    SHOPINTUWDAYBKNGNOWCRMADBE

    The software side is being sold harder than on Friday and without a headline. Shopify is down about 7.2%, Intuit 5.7%, Workday 5.6%, Booking 5.8%, ServiceNow 4.3%, Salesforce 3.5%, Adobe 3.3%, MongoDB 2.7%, Datadog 2.3%, Palantir 1.7% and Microsoft 1.4%. None of them reported anything today. What moved is the price the market pays for subscription and platform revenue when the bond market has a rate rise on the table and the chip complex offers growth that is visible this quarter. Adobe and Salesforce were already at 52-week lows going into the week; this extends the year-long de-rating of the group rather than starting a new one.

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C · line 11 · members

Today in line 11: the three tests that decide whether day two of the rotation is something to hold or something to fade — the breadth inside the chip complex now that Nvidia is lagging its own sector, why the software side has no floor before Friday's inflation print and what number would give it one, and what it means that Caterpillar is leading the Dow for the second day while its three biggest technology names fall; plus the closing-hour rule for today's three earnings cards.

The privileged, actionable read — what we do, and at which level — is in line 11, for members only.

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Further reading on Closelook

Ten lines on the US midday tape, not advice — an investment diary. Published every trading day at 12:30 ET. See The Morning 10 and the Daily Pulse.