Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang ousted; CFO Colette Kress named interim chief executive officer.
- The S&P 500 ended Thursday 0.4% lower, the Nasdaq 100 lost 0.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%.
- Super Micro Computer stock tumbled about 11% amid a probe to find out if companies linked to alleged Chinese spy Alice Huang smuggled its products to China.
- U.S. crude rose 2.6%, and Brent oil jumped 3.3%.
U.S. stock indices ended lower on Thursday amid a leadership crisis in chipmaker Nvidia after CEO Jensen Huang stepped down from his position, which weighed on overall tech and AI stocks, while elevated oil prices further bogged down sentiment.
The chief executive of the semiconductor giant resigned from his role after allegations surfaced regarding inappropriate relationships, including an association with an individual suspected by American intelligence of covert ties to Beijing, along with romantic ties with an Nvidia employee.
However, index futures were quick to recover after-hours. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 40 points. S&P 500 futures rose about 0.2%, while Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 0.3% at the time of writing.
The S&P 500 ended Thursday 0.4% lower, the Nasdaq 100 lost 0.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%. The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks, ended 1.7% lower.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) fell 0.4%, and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) lost 0.4%. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) ended 0.3% lower on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) and the iShares Semiconductor ETF fell between 0.3% and 1% each on Thursday, mostly pulled down by weakness in Nvidia (NVDA). The broader Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) fell 0.1%.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for SPY, QQQ, and DIA all moved to ‘extremely bullish’ territory from being ‘bearish’ at the end of October.
US Market Drivers
| Index | Move | Close |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average | -0.4% | 52,297.09 |
| S&P 500 | -0.4% | 7,592.40 |
| Nasdaq 100 | -0.3% | 28,289.19 |
Nvidia’s competitors, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom (AVGO), rose on Thursday. Fundstrat’s Tom Lee stood by his view that technology stocks have already hit bottom. “We are sticking with the thesis that Technology stocks bottomed last week,” Lee said on Thursday, in a note cited by CNBC. He added that Huang’s exit “does not change our view.”
More investors seemed to be of the view that Huang’s exit could be a golden opportunity for other chipmakers or firms looking to design their own chips.
“This is a golden opportunity for Amazon, for Google, for AMD, for Broadcom, for OpenAI and Anthropic, who are hiring chip experts to help them design their own chips,” Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management, told CNBC.
However, the case for AI spending reaching unprecedented levels, creating pressure on cash flows, continued to affect investor sentiment.
“The large technology companies are spending an absolute fortune on AI capex, and I think investors need to be very careful, said Sean Peche, founder and portfolio manager at Ranmore Fund Management.
“Investors tend to assume that what has performed well will continue to do so. History shows that isn’t always the case.”
Oil prices also jumped on Thursday, further weighing on overall markets after President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post, “We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed.” U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 2.55% to $88.74 a barrel, while Brent crude futures added 3.3% to $95.82 a barrel.
Key Trending Stocks
CoreWeave Inc. (CRWV) saw its market bonds climb on Thursday as stronger-than-expected corporate earnings earlier this week successfully eased widespread market concerns regarding the firm’s heavy debt obligations.
Chipmaker Cerebras Systems Inc.(CBRS) share price rallied 13% after-hours after the firm reported record third-quarter revenue and issued a fourth-quarter sales forecast that beat Wall Street estimates, challenging market leader Nvidia Corp.(NVDA) as it wades through Jensen Huang’s exit.
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether entities linked to Alice Huang were involved in efforts to smuggle Supermicro (SMCI) products into China, according to Bloomberg.
Investor appetite for Anthropic PBC’s initial public offering has far outpaced supply, with orders reaching approximately six times the number of shares available, Bloomberg reported.
Shares of Tesla (TSLA) closed higher on Thursday after reports that merger discussions between itself and SpaceX are progressing and could lead to an announcement as soon as December.
Elon Musk’s rocket and artificial intelligence company SpaceX (SPCX) said on Thursday that it plans for more than $74 billion in new U.S. supercomputing campuses, pairing a facility at its Starbase site in Texas with a second project in Cochise County in Arizona, as it seeks to expand its AI compute capacity on the ground.
For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.<