Bank of America Drops Nvidia (NVDA) and 2 Chip Stocks From Its US 1 List

Three Chip Stocks Leave the US 1 List

Bank of America has removed NVIDIA (NVDA) from its US 1 List, the short roster the bank uses to flag its highest-conviction stock ideas. The change surfaced on Monday in a trading alert circulated on X, and it did not single out the chipmaker: Micron (MU), which produces memory chips, and Lam Research (LRCX), which builds the equipment used to make semiconductors, left the list in the same move. Nvidia did not leave alone. All three keep their Buy ratings, meaning the bank still expects each share to rise. What Nvidia lost is the stronger endorsement a US 1 slot carries, a place among the firm's best ideas rather than simply its rated coverage.

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The bank declined to explain the decision, and no research note accompanied the change. The reshuffle follows an established pattern: in February, the bank added Lam Research to the list and dropped AMD, which likewise kept its Buy rating, so cutting conviction while keeping direction is not a new move for the desk. Bank of America's chip analyst, Vivek Arya, has tied the sector's gains to artificial intelligence spending. “We continue to view AI/data center to drive the majority of gains,” he has written, a stance that predates this week's change and that the removal does not formally reverse. The distinction between the two calls matters for how the decision should be read. A Buy rating describes a direction. The US 1 List ranks conviction, and Nvidia now sits outside that inner circle with no public reason attached.

A Cut Days After the Huang Admission

The timing drew scrutiny because it came days after chief executive Jensen Huang admitted an affair with a woman that US intelligence reportedly suspected of spying for China, and while Nvidia's board examines the matter. Neither Micron nor Lam Research has any tie to Huang, which is why the joint removal resists a single-cause reading. The market separated the three names on Monday all the same: Nvidia fell more than 4% while its board probed Huang, and Micron and Lam Research climbed. One scandal-hit stock and two rising ones left the list together.

The share's slide predates the list change. Nvidia entered a bear market on Monday, trading about 26% below the record it set in October; a bear market conventionally means a fall of 20% or more from a peak, and the share crossed that line during the session. Bernstein reaffirmed its outperform rating on the stock on November 9. The stock also sits in most US index funds, so the drawdown reaches ordinary savers through index and retirement holdings, not only active traders. Monday's session put the divergence in sharp relief: the bank kept all three ratings unchanged while the market repriced only one of them.

The $170.29 Floor and the $184.91 Ceiling

COINOTAG data puts the shares at $176.03, down 0.19% over the last 24 hours, after a session that ranged from $170.88 to $183.57. The strongest support underneath sits at $170.29, which COINOTAG's composite scoring rates 66 out of 100, while the nearest resistance at $184.91 carries an 87/100 reading and was not reached in the last 24 hours. Momentum reads bearish on the daily timeframe: the RSI stands at 26.1, deep in oversold territory, inside a confirmed downtrend. Positioning has not flushed either. Funding on the stock perpetual runs at 0.0141% per interval and open interest holds near $211 million. A close under $170.29 would weaken that floor; a push through $184.91 would put the downtrend label itself in question.