U.S. indexes fall 0.4% after Jensen Huang resigns and Nvidia shares drop

Key Facts

Major U.S. indexes each ended Thursday, November 12, down 0.4%—the S&P 500, Dow Jones and Nasdaq Composite—after Nvidia announced the resignation of its chairman and chief executive, Jensen Huang, according to the Associated Press. The company said the resignation was effective immediately and also included his seat on the board. The indexes’ modest declines came despite a steep drop in Nvidia shares at the start of trading, before they pared some losses. CFO Colette Kress took over as interim chief executive while the company searches for a permanent successor, according to Reuters. Nvidia shares closed at $164.735, according to EL7 data.

Indexes moved in a wider range during the session than their closing losses suggest: the S&P 500 fell about 1% early on, then erased its losses before ending the day down 0.4%, according to the Associated Press. Nvidia shares initially fell 14% after the resignation announcement, but quickly pared half of their losses, the agency reported. At the close, the stock was down 4.3%. By contrast, Broadcom rose 5.5% and AMD gained 5.9%, helping offset some of Nvidia’s drag on the broader index. Reuters said in an update that the stock was down about 4.8% after paring losses, while AMD and Broadcom were each up about 6%; that was an intraday reading, distinct from the closing figures reported by the Associated Press.

The stock declines coincided with the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note rising to 5.12%, from 4.98% late Tuesday, November 10, according to the Associated Press. The bond market was closed Wednesday for Veterans Day. The agency linked broader market pressure to rising oil prices and inflation concerns, noting that higher yields increase borrowing costs for the government, companies and households. Brent crude rose 3.3% to $95.82 a barrel during Thursday’s session. Bond and oil moves thus formed part of the market backdrop on the day of Nvidia’s announcement, alongside the divergence between the stock’s losses and gains by some of its competitors.

Huang’s resignation follows an extraordinary rise in the stock in previous years, though it had already fallen from its recent peak before the company’s announcement. Nvidia rose 1,722% over four years through its record high in October 2026, compared with gains of about 109% for the S&P 500 over the same period, the Associated Press reported. From that peak, the stock had fallen 27% through Wednesday, November 11. Reuters said a boom in demand for AI computing had driven the stock to rise sevenfold through early October and at one point lifted the company’s market value to about $6 trillion. Those earlier gains put Thursday’s share move in the context of a volatile trajectory that preceded the leadership change announcement.

Nvidia’s board announced on November 8 that it had opened an independent investigation overseen by a committee of independent directors, with assistance from outside legal counsel. The board said it had no reason to believe national security or company secrets had been compromised, but would examine the available information. The company said its search for a permanent chief executive would include candidates from inside and outside the company. The Associated Press quoted Nvidia as saying it was considering “internal and external candidates.” Reuters also reported that Huang owns a 3.61% stake and was the company’s fourth-largest shareholder, and that he would also leave the board.

Nvidia appointed Harvey Jones, former chief executive of Synopsys and a longtime board member, as the board’s first chairman, according to Reuters. Attention is turning to the upcoming meeting between investors and the interim management, while the company has yet to announce the permanent successor. Nvidia had scheduled its fiscal 2027 third-quarter earnings call for November 17, 2026, according to its investor relations page. The date comes days after Huang’s resignation and marks the company’s first scheduled financial event since the change. The process of choosing a permanent chief executive remains the next focus in the leadership matter, according to the company’s announcement.