New York, Feb 16, 2026, 16:42 EST — Market closed.
- Intel shares last closed up 0.7% at $46.79 on Friday, after a choppy week for chip stocks. (Intc)
- Investors are weighing signs of tighter server CPU supply against a broader rethink of AI-related spending and winners. (Reuters)
- The next major sector catalyst is Nvidia’s quarterly results on Feb. 25. (NVIDIA Newsroom)
U.S. stock markets were closed on Monday for Presidents Day, leaving Intel investors with Friday’s close as the last print ahead of Tuesday’s reopen. Intel shares finished Feb. 13 up 0.67% at $46.79. (Barron’s)
Why it matters now: Intel has been trading in the slipstream of a wider rotation in and out of tech, with investors pressing companies for near-term payback on artificial intelligence spending. That tone has driven sharp sector moves in early 2026, even when company news is thin. (Reuters)
A parallel worry has been the market’s “AI scare trade” — the idea that new tools could disrupt business models faster than investors priced in. “With fear driving market sentiment, investors remain in ‘sell first think later’ mode,” Barclays equity strategist Emmanual Cau wrote in a Reuters report on Feb. 13. (Reuters)
Intel’s own tape has been uneven. The stock slid 6.2% on Feb. 10 and fell another 3.75% on Feb. 12 before stabilizing into Friday, according to daily data. (Investing)
On Friday, Intel traded between $44.97 and $47.69 and saw about 69.6 million shares change hands, its historical data show. (Intc)
The nearer-term company-specific issue remains supply. Reuters reported on Feb. 6 that Intel and AMD had notified customers in China about long waits for some server central processing units — CPUs, the general-purpose chips that run many data-center workloads alongside AI accelerators. (Reuters)
Intel told Reuters in that report that rapid AI adoption had lifted demand for “traditional compute,” adding: “inventory at lowest level in Q1, but we are addressing aggressively and expect supply improvement in Q2 through 2026.” (Reuters)
That backdrop sits on top of guidance Intel gave in late January, when it forecast first-quarter revenue of $11.7 billion to $12.7 billion and non-GAAP earnings at about breakeven. (Intc)
Intel also faces a familiar set of benchmarks: AMD in server CPUs and Nvidia in the broader AI buildout. Nvidia is scheduled to discuss quarterly results on Feb. 25, a date traders often treat as a sentiment marker for the chip complex. (NVIDIA Newsroom)
There are risks the market is still underpricing. Supply improvements can slip if yields disappoint or if demand stays hot, and Reuters has reported that customers were being quoted extended lead times for some parts — a setup that can feed volatility rather than damp it. (Reuters)
For Tuesday, focus is simple: whether Intel holds Friday’s rebound when U.S. trading resumes on Feb. 17, and how the stock trades into Nvidia’s Feb. 25 results. (Barron’s)
