Nvidia Tech Pain Barely Dents European Stock Markets
European shares edged lower on Friday but were set for a weekly gain, even after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned over a scandal. Investors played down the AI fallout, while the dollar neared a 19-month high on bets of a bigger Fed rate hike.
European stocks were a touch lower on Friday, November 13, 2026, but still headed for a weekly rise, as US tech pain failed to spread to the European stock market. Investors largely shrugged off the scandal that forced Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang to resign.
Europe's STOXX 600, which hit a record high in the previous session, was down about 0.1% at 1254 GMT. It was on track for a weekly gain of more than 2%, supported by earnings growth in sectors less exposed to the AI trade.
London's FTSE 100 was up 0.1%. Germany's DAX fell 0.2%. The MSCI World Equity Index slipped by less than 0.1%, and Wall Street futures were mixed.
Huang's exit and the AI trade
Huang resigned as head of the US chipmaker on Thursday after an affair with a suspected Chinese spy. His departure could have far-reaching consequences for US chip export policy and the wider AI industry and supply chain, given his push to keep access to the Chinese market and his close ties with US President Donald Trump.
The US Justice Department said it does not know whether the Chinese businesswoman at the centre of the scandal was a spy.
AI-related shares in China dropped after the resignation. Indexes in Taiwan, Japan and South Korea gained overnight. Nvidia shares rose 2.6% in premarket trading after losing about 11% between Monday and Thursday.
Tristan Hanson, a multi-asset fund manager at M&G, said Huang had been a very high-profile chief executive. But he added: "The AI technology boom is not about one individual."
Dollar and rate bets
The dollar index stood at 103.27 after earlier touching its highest level since April 2025. Traders raised bets that the US Federal Reserve could deliver a larger-than-expected 50-basis-point rate hike next month.
US inflation data on Tuesday showed a third consecutive month of rising food and accommodation costs. Traders also read remarks by some Fed officials as hawkish.
The CME FedWatch tool put the chance of a 50 basis point hike in December at 12%, up from zero a week ago. US Treasury yields rose, with the 2-year yield at a one-month high. The German 10-year yield was 3.39%, and the euro was flat at $1.1048.
Hanson said more rate hikes "might look a bit hasty". He expects some drivers of inflation, including the oil shock, to ease.
Oil, gold and an outage
Oil was heading for a second weekly decline after a volatile week. Early hopes of a rapprochement in the US-Israeli war on Iran were offset by Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabian infrastructure and attacks on tankers carrying crude out of the Gulf.
Brent crude futures rose 0.33% to $96.17 a barrel, while US crude eased 0.2% to $88.57. Spot gold gained 0.3% to $3,887.66 an ounce.
Separately, a more than 12-hour outage of Microsoft Outlook and Teams crippled communications for businesses and governments worldwide on Friday. Some organizations reverted to fax machines, and at least one bond repurchase in Europe was halted.
