Seagate Technology PLC (STX)

While Intel stumbled, other major chip developers and manufacturers have been generally upbeat amid strong end-market demand. And M&A activity is on the upswing again.

For now, investors will either have to find some place else for their money or be patient.

If you're in MRVL, you're here for the opportunity in 5G technology.

The memory giant indicated November quarter sales would be below its preliminary outlook, and also says its August quarter will be more back-end loaded than originally expected.

A small trading position or bull call spread might be warranted, depending on support.

While valuations are clearly very high for many tech names, investor euphoria might not go away until news flow meaningfully worsens.

While some growth stocks have been bid up to extreme valuations, others could look intriguing if markets see a meaningful downturn.

Trading volumes dropping on major indexes, U.K. teams begin human trials on a Covid-19 vaccine, and the U.S. Senate wants another stimulus package addition.

China's COVID-19 outbreak weighed on both PC production and demand in Q1. But sales got a boost late in the quarter.

Stimulus efforts could give a boost to 5G infrastructure spending, and usage spikes for many online services could drive higher cloud capex.

Here are a number of things that I'm watching now.

Here are a number of things that I'm watching now.

I don't think any of the takeaways have to do with the political mess in Iowa, nor the 'State of the Union' address scheduled for Tuesday night.

Intel CPU shortages and the end of a business PC upgrade cycle are both likely to weigh on near-term PC demand.

Though major chip suppliers shared both good and bad news in October, on the whole the positives outweighed the negatives.

The nation enters an electoral season. The drug companies for the most part, have no friends on either side of the aisle.

The odds of a Fed December rate cut are now very low. I think the marketplace handles that just fine, as long as the statement with this week's expected cut does not sound too tough, or too cautious.

Let's hope the blacklisting of eight companies supplying surveillance equipment to the Chinese state is not just another chip on the U.S.-China trade negotiating table.

As NetApp tumbled and sparked a broader selloff in enterprise hardware stocks, AWS and other cloud giants are still reporting strong growth.

Market indices are close enough to their apex where profits can be taken and cash be raised intelligently.

And as the semiconductor sector continues to shine, Brooks Automation is a name to keep in mind.

Apple's push toward services is a valuation-driven necessity.

The trouble for me, as an investor, is that this business remains in decline until it is not in decline.

We could see a retest of Micron's December low, but it's not clear if that will be a buying opportunity.

And why maintaining a small position in defense stocks is important.

The chip stock surge at the week's end shines a light on just how pessimistic some investors had been as earnings multiples fell to rock-bottom levels last year.

Let's see if we should join them.

Though there's a pocket or two of softness, cloud capex growth remains pretty strong overall.