GLOBAL MARKETS-Wall Street edges up, Nvidia drops after CEO resigns
US stocks reversed early losses to trade slightly higher on Thursday even as Nvidia shares fell following CEO Jensen Huang's resignation. The 10-year US Treasury yield climbed back above 5%. Nvidia said Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO as the company looks for a permanent successor. Nvidia shares were last down about 4% but off the day's lows.
Huang's resignation raises questions about the chipmaker's future and the AI boom. The move follows news Huang had an affair with a Chinese businesswoman whom US authorities suspect of spying for Beijing. Shares of competitor Advanced Micro Devices were up 7%. Broadcom rose 5.4%, while Intel was flat.
Chinese tech firms that use Nvidia chips for their AI models fell sharply. Alibaba was down 7.1% in US trading, while Tencent dropped 2.6% earlier. Some investors are concerned Washington may curb access to offshore data centers with the most advanced processors. INDEXES UP SLIGHTLY
The three major US stock indexes, however, edged higher, with an index of semiconductors up 0.2% after reversing early declines. A world stocks index was flat. "The market's absorbed this reasonably well. You notice some of Nvidia's losses have been offset by gains in competitors," said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia.
"As far as Nvidia's future, there's a lot that remains unknown about this whole episode," he said. "Are we seeing the bottom today? Will there be more bad news coming out that will drive down the stock again? That's the existential question looking at Nvidia today. " The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 210.10 points, or 0.40%, to 52,696.65, the S&P 500 gained 21.99 points, or 0.29%, to 7,641.10 and the Nasdaq Composite added 79.16 points, or 0.31%, to 25,545.34.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe eased 0.02 points to 1,121.13. The pan-European STOXX 600 index was last up 0.23%. It hit its first record high since August. US Treasury yields rose after US President Donald Trump said the US does not need a deal with Iran. The yield on benchmark US 10-year notes rose 7.73 basis points to 5.066%.
Germany's 10-year Bund yield dipped. DOLLAR EXTENDS RECENT GAINS
The US dollar index reached a fresh 19-month high as investors continued to weigh US rate increase expectations. Traders see a December hike from the Federal Reserve as likely.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.26% to 103.14, with the euro down 0.25% at $1.1061. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.08% to 159.9. US crude rose 0.32% to $86.81 a barrel and Brent climbed to $93.82 per barrel, up 1.14%.
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