Shares of semiconductor stocks ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML), Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), and Ambarella (NASDAQ: AMBA) rallied in July, up 21.8%, 16.5%, and 32.2%, respectively, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

The broader semiconductor sector did rather well in July, as it tends to be more sensitive to economic news, whether good or bad. As the sector fell more than the general indexes in the first half of the year, it's perhaps no wonder these three semi stocks did well as the economic picture seemed to improve last month.

In July, commodity inflation showed signs of easing, and market participants anticipated an end or at least slowing of Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. Given the highly sensitive nature of the chip industry to overall economic conditions, that boded well for most large-cap and diversified semi-related stocks. Applied Materials has the broadest portfolio in semiconductor equipment, so it rose even in the absence of much company-specific news.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com