S&P 500, Nasdaq Fall As Nvidia CEO's Exit Rattles AI Stocks

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 (Reuters) -- The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite indexes fell on Thursday as Nvidia chief executive officer (CEO) Jensen Huang's exit unnerved the AI trade and higher oil prices prompted investors to retreat to the sidelines, Reuters reported.

The AI heavyweight's shares (NVDA.O) dropped 7.6 per cent as investors fretted over the industry impact of Huang's resignation from the company central to the AI boom, following reports of his involvement in a second extramarital affair.

Nvidia's chief financial officer, Colette Kress, will take over as interim CEO.

"It leaves the company rudderless. He was so central to all their strategy, and it just highlights that there's quite a void there," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB.

"It does throw the AI trade into a bit more confusion. You don't have someone who was a cheerleader for AI in the same way that Jensen Huang has."

AI stocks were also reeling after neocloud company Nebius said its 2026 revenue would come in at the low end of its previous forecast, pulling its shares down 17 per cent.

Peer CoreWeave dropped about 7.0 per cent.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index declined 1.3 per cent, as chipmakers Intel, Marvell Technology and Micron fell between 2.8 per cent and 4.2 per cent.

Other data centre-related firms IREN, Applied Digital and Core Scientific fell between 3.0 per cent and 5.0 per cent.

The declines threatened to erase Wednesday's gains, when strong results from CoreWeave helped AI stocks regain some footing.

However, shares of other Magnificent Seven firms advanced, with Amazon rising 2.3 per cent, while Alphabet, Microsoft and Apple traded slightly higher.

Nvidia's rivals Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom were up 4.3 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively.

At 09:45 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 35.53 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 52,522.02, the S&P 500 lost 22.06 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 7,597.32 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 141.55 points, or 0.56 per cent, to 25,322.31.

-- REUTERS