China-related news is sending AMD and AAPL lower
China is in focus plenty today, after the country announced it was boosting its defense budget by 7.2%, pushing related stocks higher. However, plenty of tech headwinds are also coming out of the region, sending both Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) lower.
Counterpoint Research reported that Apple's sales in China dropped 24% in the first six weeks of 2024 compared to last year, just after news that China's electric vehicle (EV) demand fell sharply in February as well. At last glance, AAPL was down 2.7% to trade at $170.31, on track for its fifth-straight loss, and racking up an 11.5% year-to-date deficit.
Options traders appear to be shifting sentiment on AAPL. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the stock's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 1.88 ranks higher than all other readings from the past year. Today, however, the 368,000 puts exchanged so far represents three times the intraday average put volume, and slightly outweighs the 353,000 calls across the tape.
Advanced Micro Devices stock was last seen down 0.6% to trade at $204.11, earlier falling as low as $199.15, after the U.S. government halted the company's sale of one of its artificial intelligence (AI) chips in China, calling it too powerful. Falling from last session's record high of $211.01, AMD is up 151.9% year over year, receiving a major lift from Nvidia's earnings results, and has been a favorite amongst options traders.