US stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average both falling. Nvidia shares dragged the market after reports that chief executive Jensen Huang had been ousted, and the stock fell 4.3 percent. Rising oil prices also pushed US Treasury yields higher.
Leadership questions at Nvidia
The board is seeking a permanent successor, and chief financial officer Colette Kress is serving in the interim. Kress has been Nvidia’s CFO for 13 years. Mark Malek of Siebert Financial said investors would watch whether clients stay with the company or with its departing leader. He added that customers still need chips regardless of who runs the company.
Louis Navellier, a senior strategist, said leadership changes can disrupt operations. He said he did not believe a shocking news item alone was reason to abandon an investment with strong fundamentals. James McCann of Edward Jones said the chipmaker’s fundamentals had not changed, but that it remained to be seen whether the change at the top would affect strategy and execution.
Wider pressures on the market
The US government is investigating Alice Huang, who is suspected of spying over possible links to an entity involved in smuggling Super Micro Computer products to China. Separately, the Anthropic IPO was reportedly oversubscribed about sixfold. Investors were also pricing in the possibility that the Federal Reserve could speed up interest rate hikes to curb inflation pressure from oil prices.
Trump said the US does not need a deal with Iran and told Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic issues. Bret Kenwell of eToro said Nvidia’s financial reports had already been a major focus for investors, and that next week the spotlight on the company would sharpen.
By our market data, as of 00:05 GMT on 13 November, the S&P 500 stood at 7,592.40 points at the 12 November close, down 0.35 percent on the day. The Dow Jones closed at 52,297.09 points, down 0.36 percent.
Related: Nvidia slides after hours on CEO reports; Asian shares mixed
Data: S&P Dow Jones Indices
