The Small Cap Swing Trader Alert Archive

Below you'll find The Small Cap Swing Trader setups stacked up and ordered chronologically.

Intel Stock Pulls Back Near 4-Year High Ahead of Earnings

Jan 22, 2026 | 2:27 pm

Intel Stock Pulls Back Near 4-Year High Ahead of Earnings

Shares of  INTC paused on Thursday after a powerful rally pushed the stock to its highest levels since early 2022. While the pullback may look like hesitation on the surface, the broader price action suggests something far more constructive beneath it.

Intel stock surged nearly 12% in the prior session, fueled by rising optimism ahead of earnings and renewed confidence in the company’s next-generation chip roadmap. This surge has turned Intel earnings outlook into one of the most closely watched narratives in the semiconductor space right now.

Earnings Expectations Matter — But Guidance Matters More

Wall Street expects Intel to report adjusted earnings of $0.08 per share on revenue of $13.42 billion for Q4 2025. While that would represent a year-over-year decline, traders appear far more focused on what comes next rather than what just happened.

According to several analysts, server CPU demand tied to Granite Rapids upgrades remains strong, with supply reportedly close to sold out well into 2026. That visibility has played a meaningful role in reshaping the current Intel earnings outlook, especially for longer-term investors and swing traders.

Panther Lake and the Foundry Wildcard

The biggest catalyst may not be the income statement at all. Instead, markets are laser-focused on early feedback surrounding Intel’s newly launched Panther Lake processors and what they signal about the company’s advanced 18A manufacturing process.

If Panther Lake validates Intel’s process technology, it could attract major external foundry customers — a development that would materially change the trajectory of Intel’s capital-intensive manufacturing business. This potential inflection point is a major reason the Intel earnings outlook has improved despite muted near-term earnings growth.

Wall Street Turns Incrementally Bullish

Several firms have recently upgraded Intel or raised price targets, including HSBC, KeyBanc, and Seaport Research. Even more cautious analysts acknowledge improving demand trends across PCs and servers, though skepticism remains around the pace of foundry customer adoption.

There is also growing speculation about potential customers for Intel’s 18A or 14A process nodes — a confirmation that would likely serve as a major upside surprise. For now, traders are treating that possibility as optionality embedded in the Intel earnings outlook.

Trader Takeaway: Price Is Telling a Story

From a trading perspective, Intel’s sharp rally followed by controlled consolidation is often a sign of institutional repositioning rather than exhaustion. Markets tend to move ahead of headlines, and the current structure suggests expectations are being repriced higher.

Whether Intel delivers a breakout or a pullback after earnings will likely hinge on guidance clarity and any confirmation of external foundry partners. Either way, the reaction will be driven less by backward-looking numbers and more by how management frames the Intel earnings outlook going forward.

Related TraderInsight Coverage

As earnings approach, Intel sits at a technical and narrative crossroads — one that active traders and longer-term investors alike will be watching closely.

Markets Rebound as Trade Tensions Ease

Jan 21, 2026 | 3:49 pm

Markets Rebound as Trade Tensions Ease

Wall Street staged a broad relief rally today as stocks and bonds climbed after :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0} walked back his latest tariff threats toward Europe. The sudden shift eased fears of a fast-moving transatlantic trade war and sparked a sharp reversal from yesterday’s selloff.

The S&P 500 rose 1.2% after falling more than 2% in the prior session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 591 points, also up 1.2%, while the Nasdaq gained 1.2%. It marked the first time since Oct. 20 that all three major indexes advanced by more than 1% on the same day.

Tariffs, Headlines, and Market Whiplash

Today’s rally highlights how tariff-driven market volatility continues to dominate short-term price action. Over the weekend, the administration threatened a 10% tariff on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the U.K., the Netherlands, and Finland starting Feb. 1, sending markets sharply lower.

That narrative reversed just as quickly. Trump said he and :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1} Secretary General :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2} had “formed the framework of a future deal” involving Greenland and the broader Arctic region. In a separate interview with :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}, Trump suggested the agreement could last “forever” and include mineral rights.

The Market’s Growing Assumption of a Floor

The speed of today’s rebound reinforces a growing market belief that policy-driven selloffs may be temporary. Each new episode of tariff-driven market volatility has trained investors to expect a reversal once markets push back hard enough.

That expectation creates a dilemma. It encourages risk-taking even when valuations appear stretched, as traders assume there is an implicit “floor” under asset prices. While that mindset can fuel sharp rallies like today’s, it can also amplify downside when expectations fail.

Cross-Asset Snapshot

Looking beyond equities, the rebound was broad-based. Averaging performance across stocks, Treasuries, Bitcoin, and corporate bonds, the four major asset classes gained roughly 0.8% today. That followed an average decline of 2.6% yesterday, meaning markets have not yet fully recovered the prior session’s losses.

This back-and-forth action underscores how sensitive capital flows have become to trade headlines and reinforces the importance of managing risk during periods of tariff-driven market volatility.

One Year In: Context Matters

Yesterday marked the first full year of Trump’s current term. According to :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}, the S&P 500’s 13% gain over the past year is respectable, but well below the 24% rally seen after Trump’s first year in office in 2017.

In fact, Bespoke noted it was the smallest first-year rally for an administration since the second Bush presidency. That longer-term context matters, especially as tariff-driven market volatility increasingly defines the market’s short-term rhythm.

Trading Takeaway

For active traders, today was a reminder that policy headlines can flip market direction in hours, not weeks. Chasing emotion during these swings is costly. Structured levels, defined risk, and patience matter most when tariff-driven market volatility dominates the tape.

If you want deeper context on how macro headlines, volatility, and psychology interact, explore these related TraderInsight articles:

Days like today reward traders who stay grounded in structure rather than headlines — and punish those who confuse relief rallies with lasting trend changes.