What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after stocks gave back some of the gains from the previous day as the White House clarified the tariffs on imports from China would add up to 145%, while the baseline 10% tariffs remained in place for most countries. This added layer of uncertainty reminded investors that the global trade environment remained volatile, limiting the potential for sustained market gains. 

Also President Trump indicated he was willing to accept pain in the short term, and was aware his policies could cause a recession, but he remained more mindful of a more severe case of economic depression (higher unemployment and prolonged downturn). 

For investors, this suggested that the administration could prioritize long-term structural shifts over near-term economic stability, further increasing policy-driven risk in the markets.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, following stocks were impacted:

• Office & Commercial Furniture company MillerKnoll (NASDAQ:MLKN) fell 7.1%. Is now the time to buy MillerKnoll? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Air Freight and Logistics company FedEx (NYSE:FDX) fell 6.3%. Is now the time to buy FedEx? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Building Materials company Resideo (NYSE:REZI) fell 6%. Is now the time to buy Resideo? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Construction and Maintenance Services company Matrix Service (NASDAQ:MTRX) fell 5.8%. Is now the time to buy Matrix Service? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• General Industrial Machinery company 3M (NYSE:MMM) fell 5.1%. Is now the time to buy 3M? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On MillerKnoll (MLKN)

MillerKnoll’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 7 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

MillerKnoll is down 27.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $16.30 per share, it is trading 47.5% below its 52-week high of $31.02 from July 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of MillerKnoll’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $776.93.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. We prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story.