Nvidia Leadership Shake-Up Weighs on U.S. Stocks

Nvidia fell 4.3% to $166.19, extending its decline to 31% from its record closing price of $243.37 on Oct. 6. The company named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress interim chief executive after Huang acknowledged two extramarital affairs, one with a suspected Chinese spy and the other with a company employee.

Kress is a prudent interim choice because of her credibility with Wall Street analysts ahead of Nvidia’s quarterly earnings call next week, said Umesh Ramakrishnan, co-founder and chief strategy officer of executive-search firm Kingsley Gate. But he said finding a longer-term replacement would be difficult. Huang, a founder and technologist, could discuss both Nvidia’s products and the technology shaping AI, Ramakrishnan said. The absence of a clear succession plan has left an executive leadership vacuum and thrown the company into “disarray,” he said.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 189.40 points to 52,297.09. The S&P 500 fell 26.98 points to 7,592.40, and the Nasdaq Composite shed 100.10 points to 25,366.09. Oil rose $2.21, or 2.6%, to $88.74 a barrel in New York after President Trump said the U.S. no longer needed a deal with Iran, weighing on hopes for a negotiated resolution to the conflict.

Treasury yields climbed: the two-year yield rose 0.137 percentage point to 4.862%, and the 10-year yield added 0.114 point to 5.102%, its highest since Oct. 21. The 30-year yield gained 0.084 point to 5.433%, its largest two-day increase since April 9, 2025. The U.S. Dollar Index reached fresh 52-week highs amid expectations of a December rate hike, while gold fell 2.9% to $3,878.40 an ounce, its lowest settlement in more than a year.

Other AI-linked stocks moved in different directions. Nvidia rival Advanced Micro Devices rose 5.9% to $585.30. Cloud-computing company CoreWeave, which uses Nvidia chips in data centers leased to AI companies, fell 6.9% to $56.60. Nebius dropped 17% to $128.64 after lowering its full-year revenue growth projection because of delays in third-party capacity, though it said contracts remained in place. China’s SMIC reported a revenue surge driven by AI demand, while Foxconn forecast strong demand for AI servers and cited uncertainty following the U.S. midterm elections.

Economic and corporate news was mixed. U.S. existing-home sales fell in October to a 16-year low, and weekly jobless claims rose more than expected, though they remained historically low. Yeti cut its annual sales projection, citing cautious consumers. Siemens reported strong fiscal fourth-quarter earnings growth on demand for smart-infrastructure products and other industrial goods.