End-of-day recap

Nvidia's board accepted CEO Jensen Huang's resignation on November 12, 2026, after a second extramarital-affair scandal, triggering a chip-sector reshuffle as a hot October CPI report pushed Treasury yields above 5%.

The S&P 500 fell 0.36% to 7,592.06, the Nasdaq 0.39% to 25,366.09, and the Dow 0.36% to 52,297.09. The Russell 2000 dropped 1.66% and the VIX jumped 6.92% to 18.70. Hawkish Fed commentary pushed the 10-year yield to 5.10% and the 2-year to 4.86%, with Goldman Sachs adding another rate hike to its forecast.

Energy led all 11 sectors, up 1.51%, as oil prices rose alongside the rate-hike repricing. Basic Materials lagged, down 1.28%, as higher borrowing costs weighed on commodity names.

Nvidia fell 4.34% to $166.19, a $4.01T market cap. Huang resigned Thursday, and the board named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO while it searches for a permanent replacement.

AMD rose 5.86% to $585.30 ($959.9B market cap), and Broadcom gained 5.54% to $364.36 ($1.74T). Traders rotated into Nvidia's rivals on bets both pick up data-center business during the leadership crisis.

Corteva fell 24.26% to $9.20, its steepest single-day drop on record, for a $6.1B market cap. It missed Q3 earnings with adjusted EPS of just $0.06 and cut its full-year outlook on continued Brazil weakness, confirmed in an 8-K filed the same day.

Nebius Group dropped 16.84% to $128.64, a $30.9B market cap, despite beating Q3 revenue estimates. It guided 2026 revenue to the low end of its range and raised capex to about $27B, citing data-center capacity delays.

Nvidia options volume hit 9.33 million contracts, 272% of average daily volume, split between 4.94 million calls and 4.38 million puts for a 0.89 put-call ratio, clustered in Nov 13 expiry 150-175 strikes.

Cantor Fitzgerald's Ramsey El-Assal reiterated Coinbase at Overweight with a $200 target, versus $132.18 when posted, after a direct conversation with the CEO.

Argus's Jim Kelleher lowered his CoreWeave target to $100, versus $55.03 when posted. The stock also slipped as traders took profits after Wednesday's sharp gains on strong neocloud earnings.

Argus's Joseph Bonner lowered his Reddit target to $150, versus $99.26 when posted, the same day Argus moved targets on CoreWeave and Gilead.

Argus's Jasper Hellweg raised his Gilead Sciences target to $190, versus $169.05 when posted, the lone upward revision among Thursday's three Argus calls.

Applied Materials posted fiscal Q4 adjusted EPS of $4.16, beating a $4.06 estimate, on revenue of $10.41B versus $10.30B expected. It guided Q1 revenue near $11.10B, above estimates, yet shares slipped 3.6% after hours to $380.95.

Higher yields set the backdrop. Nvidia's leadership change set the trading inside the chip sector.

Not financial advice. For informational and educational purposes only.