The tumult surrounding Jensen Huang's ouster from Nvidia continues to cloud the outlook for the AI trade.
Tech stocks slumped and Nvidia shares gave up early gains to turn red again as investors brace for further fallout from the crisis, including in Washington. Chip and data-center stocks are selling off.
Two huge tests are coming up for the AI trade next week. Nvidia is due to report earnings on Tuesday, when finance chief and interim CEO Colette Kress will face questions about the web of financing deals that Huang struck. And the blockbuster IPO for Anthropic, one of the biggest users of Nvidia's chips, is expected on Thursday.
Tech-heavy Asian indexes closed lower after rebounding early in the session and European equities are mixed.
Meanwhile, shares in Microsoft are slipping as it works to resolve a widespread outage that is affecting its Teams and Outlook services.
Oil prices are ticking up, with few notable developments in the Mideast conflict. The oil market is expected to return to a surplus in the final quarter of this year for the first time since the outbreak of the Iran war, the International Energy Agency reported today.
A selloff in bond markets has abated after Treasury yields rose sharply yesterday on solidifying expectations of further interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Longer-dated yields are still ticking up.