Nvidia’s much-touted Quantum Day event held last week did not prove to be a positive catalyst for quantum computing stocks.

Quantum computing stocks ended last week in the red, even as the broader market broke a four-week losing streak. However, these companies saw a notable rise in retail investor interest on Stocktwits, ranking among the tech stocks with the highest follower growth last week.

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The top brass of major quantum computing companies attended Nvidia Corp.’s (NVDA) “Quantum Day” on Thursday, which was held as part of the latter’s annual GTC event. 

In a conversation with the executives, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang clarified his comments from earlier this January regarding the timing when the technology could be viably applied to real-world problems.

In January, Huang hinted at a 10 to 15-year timeframe.

At last week’s event, the Nvidia CEO said, “This is the first event in history where a company CEO invites all of the guests to explain why he was wrong.” 

The damage-repairing exercise did little to perk up sentiment toward quantum computing stock. The Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of an index that comprises liquid companies in the global quantum computing and machine learning industries, ended the week down 1.3%.

  • D-Wave Quantum, Inc. (QBTS), which saw a nice run-up ahead of last week, plunged about 18%. 
  • Arqit Quantum, Inc. (ARQQ) climbed 15% last week, although dropping about 25% from Monday’s close of $23.54.
  • IonQ, Inc. (IONQ) slipped about 11%.
  • Rigetti Computing, Inc. (RGTI) slumped about 20%.
  • Quantum Computing, Inc. (QUBT) rose 4%.

Quantum Computing bucked the down move as investors reacted to its fourth-quarter results reported after the market closed on Thursday. The company also did not participate in Nvidia’s “Quantum Day” event.

Quantum Computing boosted its retail following by about 9% over last week, D-Wave by 8% and Arqit by about 3%.

Sentiment toward these quantum computing stocks was either ‘extremely bullish’ or ‘bullish,’ except for Arqit.

On Stocktwits, sentiment toward D-Wave stock remained ‘extremely bullish’ (87/100) and the message volume was ‘extremely high.’

QBTS sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits

A bullish watcher was positioning for a move to $40 soon.

Quantum Computing stock elicited an ‘extremely bullish’ reaction (76/100) from retailers on the platform, an improvement from the ‘bullish’ mood that prevailed a day ago. The message volume stated ‘extremely high.’

QUBT sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits

Sentiment toward IonQ stock and Rigetti stock remained ‘bullish,’ with the positive mood accompanied by ‘high’ message volume.

IONQ sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits
RGTI sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits

On the other hand, the retail mood toward Arqit stock stayed ‘neutral’ (52/100) and the message volume remained ‘extremely high.’

ARQQ sentiment and message volume March 24, as of 5:40 am ET | Source: Stocktwits

These stocks are on track to open higher in the new trading week. In premarket trading on Monday:

  • D-Wave stock climbed 5.02% to $8.78.
  • Quantum Computing added 4.47% to $7.72.
  • IonQ added 3.10% to $22.95.
  • Rigetti stock moved up 2.87% to $9.33.
  • Arqit jumped 4.85% to $18.59.
  •  QTUM rose 1% to $78.70.

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