Wall Street Closes Lower as Nvidia Drops 4.3% After Huang Exit
US stocks ended Thursday lower as Nvidia fell 4.3% after CEO Jensen Huang's exit, while energy shares rose on higher oil prices. The Dow lost 189.40 points to 52,297.09, and investors now await Friday's producer price data and a possible December Fed rate hike.
Wall Street closed lower on Thursday, November 12, 2026, as a slide in Nvidia shares after CEO Jensen Huang's exit outweighed gains in energy stocks. The markets wall street closes report shows all three major indexes down about 0.4%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 189.40 points, or 0.36%, to 52,297.09. The S&P 500 lost 26.98 points to 7,592.40, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 100.10 points, or 0.39%, to 25,366.09.
Nvidia closed down 4.3%, well off its session low. The stock had earlier dropped nearly 12%. Retail investors bought about $111 million of Nvidia shares in the first half hour of trading, the biggest opening bid on record for the stock, according to Vanda Analytics.
Nvidia named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress interim CEO after Huang's departure.
AI stocks split
Weakness was not uniform across chips. Broadcom, Advanced Micro Devices and Alphabet each rose and were among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index slipped 0.5% after surging 17.2% over the previous four sessions.
AI cloud firm Nebius tumbled 16.8%, its biggest daily percentage drop since July 1, after reporting quarterly earnings and an outlook. CoreWeave fell 6.9%, IREN 6.5% and Applied Digital 5.4%.
"Right now, the market is selling AI stocks and tech stocks and buying safe stuff," said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management in St Louis. He expects the trade to flip back.
Ellerbroek also called Nvidia "the circular-funder-in-chief" and said he assumes that financing activity will moderate. Nvidia has backed several firms, including its own customers, through financing arrangements that now face more scrutiny.
Energy and Tesla
The S&P 500 energy index rose 1.5%, its fourth straight gain and the best showing among the 11 major sectors. Crude prices climbed after President Donald Trump wrote on social media that the US did not need a deal with Iran.
Tesla shares gained about 1% after a report that the carmaker and Elon Musk's SpaceX are making progress on merger talks. Advisers for both companies are discussing potential terms, according to the report. An announcement could come as early as December, though talks could run into 2027.
Rates in focus
Equities have been volatile in recent days. Sweeping Democratic victories in the US midterm elections have raised investor concern about more AI regulation.
Markets fully price a December Federal Reserve rate hike of at least 25 basis points, with a 15% chance of 50 basis points, according to CME FedWatch. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said she does not think the Fed needs more aggressive hikes. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said further increases will likely be needed, without suggesting urgency.
Decliners outnumbered advancers 3.4-to-1 on the NYSE and 3.18-to-1 on the Nasdaq. Volume on US exchanges was 19.18 billion shares, against a 20-day average of 18.61 billion.
Investors await the Producer Price Index on Friday, following a hotter-than-expected consumer price reading earlier this week.
