Intel fell 29% on Friday. Worst day since the 1970s. The U.S. government owns about 10% of the company. Its stake lost roughly $12 billion.
Washington is now a retail trader. It bought a stock after a big run. It got the top and the lecture that comes with it.
Intel blamed a plant shutdown in Israel and a soft PC market. It guided to 25 cents a share. Analysts wanted 43. That is not a miss. That is a different company.
The shares had climbed about 150% this year. Then CEO Lip-Bu Tan opened his mouth. Hired in March 2025, he has spent the time since reviving a company that skipped the early AI boom. Revival is going great. Stockholders went from heaven to a 29% haircut in one session.
Nvidia owns a chunk too. It lost about $6 billion. Nvidia will be fine. It lost roughly a mid-sized hospital system and kept going.
D.A. Davidson downgraded Intel from buy to neutral. The report was titled "Not fixed yet." Bold stuff. Someone got paid to write that after the stock fell 29%. That is chart reading with a time machine.
The government is still up on the trade overall. Reports say so, and I'm sure the taxpayers feel rich. Nothing says wealth like a $12 billion Friday.
Here is the technical read. Stock goes up. Stock goes down. A man in a suit says "AI spending anxiety." Nobody knows anything. I have drawn a line on the chart. The line does not care about Israel.
Retail traders will call this a buying opportunity. They call everything a buying opportunity. Their wives call it Tuesday.
The United States of America lost $12 billion in a day and still has the nerve to be up on the position. That is the most retail thing a country has ever done.
Photo by Brecht Corbeel on Unsplash
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