US stocks dropped in Thursday after chip giant Nvidia (NVDA) announced CEO Jensen Huang is stepping down, dragging down tech stocks.
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) dropped 0.6%, backsliding from Wednesday's chip stock-led rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) remained flat.
Nvidia stock tumbled more than 10% in premarket trading. The chipmaker has long stood at the heart of the AI investment boom that has powered this year's stock market. Nvidia's web of tie-ups with other AI companies also creates uncertainty about how great the fallout from Huang's affairs and potential dismissal could be for the market broadly.
Follow the latest developments on Nvidia's CEO here.
Some chipmakers, including Intel (INTC) and Micron (MU) fell, while others, such as Nvidia rival AMD (AMD) rose. In Asia, stocks held steady.
The tumult, which is just the latest incident to raise investor doubts about the artificial intelligence trade that has powered this year's stock market, adds even more pressure for everything to go right in Anthropic's planned public debut next week.
In a related programming note, Yahoo Finance's annual Invest event is here, and we'll be bringing you insights from our conversations with corporate leaders, including AMD CEO Lisa Su, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, Starbucks (SBUX) CEO Brian Niccol, United Airlines (UAL) CEO Scott Kirby, and many others.
Meanwhile, energy prices sharply reversed course Wednesday with Brent Crude Futures (BZ=F) rising about $93 per barrel following a week of declines. The move came after President Trump shared comments that have raised worries that there is no end in sight for the US-Iran conflict. hovered above.
While the bond market was closed Wednesday, Wall Street analysts have rapidly adjusted their forecasts for more and bigger interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve following Tuesday's hotter-than-expected inflation report.
A more hawkish central bank is viewed as a negative for US borrowers and riskier assets including cryptocurrencies. Most digital assets were in the red early Wednesday, with bitcoin (BTC) tumbling overnight. Major index provider MSCI is officially removing bitcoin's biggest bull, Strategy (MSTR), from its USA indices.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigns
Jensen Huang has resigned as Nvidia CEO on Thursday morning following reports of two extramarital affairs.
Nvidia board announced the transition on Thursday morning, saying Huang" has resigned as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board, effective immediately."
The company board named CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO until a permanent successor is named.
The board had reportedly met last night after The New York Times reported on allegations that Huang had a second extramarital affair, this time with an Nvidia executive. The other affair was with someone who the US intelligence community reportedly believed was a Chinese spy.
Follow the latest updates on Nvidia here.
Oil rises as Trump says, 'We don't need a deal with Iran'
President Trump said on Thursday that "we don't need a deal with Iran" as he indicated that he's directing Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic matters in the wake of the Democratic blue wave.
"I have asked Vice President Vance to focus his complete and total attention on the Massive Corruption and Crime taking place in Democrat run Cities and States throughout the U.S.," Trump posted on Truth Social. "We don't need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We've got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we've got their Strait!"
Crude oil prices jumped following Trump's post as traders braced for the ongoing war to persist. WTI crude oil, the global benchmark, rose 1.5% to $94 per barrel.
Trump's post came after the Wall Street Journal reported that Vance was considering direct talks with an Iranian official to bring about the end of the war. According to the report, Vance sent a letter to Mohsen Rezaei, a top security official in Iran, requesting a meeting.
Vance also blamed the GOP's midterm election wipeout on the war in Iran. "The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night," Vance said on X following the election results.
AI trade sentiment sinks as Nvidia shares drop
The AI trade was on shaky ground Thursday morning as Nvidia (NVDA) stock sank amid uncertainty over CEO Jensen Huang's future at the AI chip giant. Rivals Broadcom (AVGO) and AMD (AMD) pared earlier premarket gains as investors bet Nvidia's troubles could send more chip business their way.
The rest of the AI sector didn't fare well. Shares of Nvidia-backed neocloud provider CoreWeave (CRWV) dropped 10% in pre-market trading on Thursday, giving back some of the prior session's gains sparked by a strong quarterly print. Peer Nebius *(NBIS) also sank.
Other semiconductor names declined. Chip maker Intel (INTC) stock dropped 2%, while shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM), which manufactures Nvidia chips, also fell more than 2%. Semiconductor equipment maker ASML (ASML) slipped into red territory.
Storage maker Sandisk (SNDK) dropped 5% in pre-market trading, and memory chipmakers Micron Technology (MU) and SK Hynix (SKHY) declined roughly 4%.
Yahoo Finance's Company of the Year is Anthropic
Drumroll please… Yahoo Finance's annual Company of the Year is Anthropic (ANTH.PVT).
In the nearly six years since OpenAI employees broke off and founded the rival AI lab, Anthropic has become one of the key players in the AI race. The company's revenue surpassed $33 billion in the first nine months of the year after Anthropic brought in $2.5 billion the year before.
Yahoo Finance's Dan Howley reports on why Anthropic won Company of the Year:
Anthropic has also drawn its share of controversy ranging from employees predicting that AI could kill all humans to showdowns with the Trump administration.
Despite that, Anthropic's sales continue to improve. Its number of customers spending more than $100,000 has increased from roughly 1,500 in December 2025 to more than 11,900 as of Sept. 30. Its computing efficiency has also jumped, meaning it's seeing more revenue per dollar spent on computing infrastructure.
"There's no real historical analogy for a company that has been this successful this fast," NYU Stern School of Business professor Arun Sundararajan told Yahoo Finance.
Nvidia's boardroom crisis threatens fragile chip stock rebound
Chip stocks spent four sessions clawing out of last week's AI rout. Nvidia's boardroom crisis just pulled the rug out from under them, Yahoo Finance's Jared Blikre reports:
The comeback was fragile to begin with. A Yahoo Finance basket of 62 chip stocks had won back less than a third of the market value it lost from early October to last week's low, and the PHLX Semiconductor Index (^SOX) was still stuck below its 200-day moving average despite a rally of about 17% off that low.
Then came Nvidia (NVDA). The stock tumbled after the bell Wednesday following reports that its board is preparing to oust CEO Jensen Huang, falling below a floor near $164 that had held twice in the past 14 months.
The scandal-plagued chipmaker had already shed about $190 billion in market value since last week's low…
Nvidia reportedly preparing to oust CEO Huang after alleged affairs with spy, Nvidia exec
Embattled Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang was allegedly involved in a second extramarital affair.
The company's board is reportedly meeting to determine if it will oust Huang as chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reports. Nvidia stock fell in after-hours trading following the report.
According to The New York Times, Huang, whose relationship with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy has embroiled the company in scandal this week, also had a relationship with Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell.
She joined Nvidia in 2008 and heads up the company's healthcare business.
The Times report says that Huang and Powell were seen being affectionate at a hotel during a company conference in March, and that when a bystander took a photo of the interaction, a security guard "sequestered them" and made them an offer to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
Good morning. Here's what's happening today.
Economic data: Initial jobless claims (189,000 last week), existing home sales
Earnings calendar: Cisco Systems (CSCO), Applied Materials (AMAT), Brookfield (BN), Nu Holdings (NU), Nebius Group (NBIS), Cerebras Systems (CBRS), Korea Electric Power (KEP), QXO (QXO), Brookfield Wealth Solutions (BNT), Dillard's (DDS), Hudbay Minerals (HBM), Stantec (STN), Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals (ARWR), Twist Bioscience (TWST), Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ELPC), Mobility Global (MBGL), Kodiak Sciences (KOD), NIQ Global Intelligence (NIQ)
Yahoo Finance Invest kicks off at 8 a.m. ET. Watch live here.
Catch up on some top stories from overnight:
Nvidia reportedly preparing to oust CEO Huang after alleged affairs with spy, Nvidia exec
Who is Nvidia executive Kimberly Powell?
Asian stocks fragile, Nvidia plummets as board to decide CEO's fate
Alphabet kicks off Asia bond sale as AI firms face scrutiny
Hugging Face cofounder: Open-weight AI models were 'our savior'
Trump plans to sell public land, reducing size of federal estate
