Shares of Advanced Micro Devices erased earlier gains to turn sharply lower in active trade Thursday, bucking the gains in the broader tech sector. What may be weighing on the chip maker, the price of cryptocurrency ethereum was plunging 10% from Thursday’s close, and has plummeted 35% so far this month. AMD’s graphics chips are the “gold standard” for mining ethereum, according to RBC Capital analyst Mitch Steves, and rocketing ethereum prices through mid June had propelled AMD shares sharply higher this year. On Thursday, with ethereum prices rising early in the session before sinking, AMD’s stock was up as much as 1.4% within the first few minutes after the open, then declined steadily to be down as much as 6.0% in afternoon trade, before paring some losses. It was recently down 4.6% at $13.64. Volume reached 100 million shares about 30 minutes before the close, enough to make the stock the most actively traded on the major U.S. exchanges. AMD’s stock has now climbed 20.3% year to date, while rival Nvidia Corp. shares has shot up 50.5%, the PHLX Semiconductor Index has rallied 20.4% and the S&P 500 has gained 9.3%.
Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.
From:: Stock Market News