Wall Street looked set for a split open on Thursday as a leadership scare at Nvidia weighed on technology shares that had powered a strong rally a day earlier. As of about 5 a.m. ET, S&P 500 futures were down roughly 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures were off about 0.6%, while Dow futures edged up 0.1%, according to Yahoo Finance market data. Reuters reported similar moves earlier in the overnight session.
Wednesday’s close: a broad rebound
Stocks bounced back on Wednesday after Tuesday’s inflation-driven selloff. According to the AP, the S&P 500 rose 1.31% to close at 7,619.38, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.49% to 52,486.49, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 1.60% to 25,466.19. The small-cap Russell 2000 added 0.88% to 2,846.26. The bond market was closed for Veterans Day, so there was no fresh Treasury close.
CoreWeave led the charge, surging about 24.7% after the AI cloud provider reported third-quarter revenue of $3.66 billion and lifted its full-year outlook, according to StockTitan and Yahoo Finance. Nvidia itself finished the regular session up nearly 3%.
Nvidia reverses after hours
The mood shifted after the bell. The Wall Street Journal reported that Nvidia’s board was considering whether to remove Huang as chief executive following reports about his personal conduct, according to Reuters and Yahoo Finance. Nvidia shares fell about 7% in premarket trading, Reuters said. Neither the allegations nor any leadership change had been confirmed by the company. Baird downgraded the stock to Neutral and Morgan Stanley removed it from its top picks list, TheStreet reported.
The selling spread across AI names. Reuters said CoreWeave gave back about 7% premarket, Nebius fell 4.7%, and Intel, Marvell and Micron each slipped roughly 3%. Overseas, Alibaba dropped more than 6% in Hong Kong as investors weighed the risk of tighter U.S. chip export rules for China.
What else is on the calendar
- Jobless claims: The weekly report on initial unemployment filings arrives at 8:30 a.m. ET.
- Earnings: Nebius reports before the open. Cisco, Applied Materials, Cerebras Systems and Nu Holdings report after the close, according to TipRanks.
- Friday: October producer prices land at 8:30 a.m. ET, a key follow-up to this week’s hot consumer inflation report.
The rate backdrop
Rate worries have not gone away. After October consumer prices rose more than expected, futures markets priced high odds of a quarter-point Federal Reserve rate hike at the December 8-9 meeting, according to Kitco and CoinDesk. Gold futures were down more than 1% early Thursday and oil was little changed, according to Yahoo Finance data.
With Nvidia’s own earnings due next Tuesday, investors will be watching closely for any word from the company’s board.
