US STOCKS-Equities close lower as Nvidia drop outweighs energy gains

US stocks closed lower on Thursday, as a drop ‌in ​Nvidia shares after CEO Jensen Huang's exit outweighed gains in energy shares. The chip company's shares fell but were well off the day's lowest level after earlier dropping nearly 12%. Retail investors bought Nvidia shares worth about $111 million in the first half hour of trading, the biggest ‌opening bid on record for the stock, according to data from Vanda Analytics.

The S&P 500 energy index rose for a fourth straight session as the best-performing of the 11 major S&P sectors. Crude prices climbed after President Donald Trump wrote on social media that the US did not need a deal with Iran. Global AI-linked stocks fell and AI cloud firm Nebius tumbled after reporting its ‌quarterly earnings and outlook. But Nvidia competitors such as Broadcom, Advanced Micro Devices, Alphabet and Amazon moved higher and were among the biggest boosts to the S&P 500.

Equities have been volatile ‌in recent days. Sweeping Democratic victories in the US midterm elections have sparked investor concern about more AI regulation. Worries about Nvidia's leadership have also pressured one of the foundations of the current bull market. Nvidia tabbed Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as interim CEO. "Right now, the market is selling AI stocks and tech stocks and buying safe stuff, just like it did in the first halo trade in January and February of this year, but it will ⁠flip back," said ​Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management ⁠in St Louis.

"That's the tug of war the market is doing right now. It's concerns about deceleration versus just pointing out that the absolute valuation and growth rates are still pretty compelling." According to preliminary data, the S&P 500 ⁠lost 25.99 points, or 0.34%, to end at 7,593.39 points, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 102.44 points, or 0.40%, to 25,363.75. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 190.29 points, or 0.36%, to 52,296.20.

NVIDIA FINANCING SCRUTINY Even with Huang's ​departure, some investors expect questions to persist about the future of AI companies with strong ties to Nvidia.

The company has backed several firms, including its own customers, through ⁠financing arrangements that face greater scrutiny after Huang's departure. "Nvidia is the circular-funder-in-chief; they're the biggest by far at this point, and I assume that activity will moderate," said Ellerbroek.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor index declined after surging 17.2% over the prior four sessions. Along ⁠with ​Nebius, peer CoreWeave dropped. Shares of data center-related firms IREN and Applied Digital also slumped.

INVESTORS AWAIT INFLATION DATA Investors are awaiting the release of the Producer Price Index on Friday, which will follow a hotter-than-expected consumer price reading earlier this week.

Markets are completely pricing in a December rate hike of at least 25 basis points by the Federal Reserve, with a 15% ⁠chance of a 50-basis-point increase, according to CME FedWatch. Comments from multiple Fed officials earlier this week suggested the US central bank was open to a more aggressive path of rate hikes ⁠as price pressures worsen.

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack ⁠said on Thursday she does not believe the central bank needs to shift to more aggressive rate hikes to combat inflation, while San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said she thinks the central bank will likely need to raise interest rates further to deal with elevated ‌inflation, but did not suggest ‌any urgency.