Nvidia's CEO exit pulls Nasdaq futures lower as the 10-year returns above 5%

• US: Wall Street closed strongly on Wednesday, before the Nvidia news broke. The S&P 500 ended up 1.31% at 7,619.38, the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.60% and the Dow gained 0.49%. Futures are the only live read on today: S&P 500 futures are trading 0.63% lower at 7,592.50 and Nasdaq 100 futures are down 1.15%.
• Europe: An early, earnings-led advance has faded, and the slide has steepened in the past hour. The DAX is up 0.11% and the CAC 40 up 0.2%, while the Euro Stoxx 50 is down 0.21% and the FTSE 100 is off 0.08%.
• Asia: Markets closed lower, led by tech-heavy Taiwan, down 2.63%. The Hang Seng ended down 1.26%, the Nikkei 0.7% and the Shanghai Composite 0.67%.

Nvidia's board said this morning that Jensen Huang has resigned as president, chief executive and director with immediate effect. Chief financial officer Colette Kress becomes interim CEO and keeps the CFO role. The exit caps a week of scandal. After Wednesday's close the Wall Street Journal reported that the board was preparing to remove him. The New York Times then reported a second alleged affair, this time with a senior Nvidia executive. That came on top of a relationship with a woman alleged to be a Chinese spy and reportedly tied to firms that moved chips into China. Bernstein, Baird and Oppenheimer all downgraded the stock overnight. Nvidia is the anchor of the AI trade, so the damage has spread. Asia's chip supply chain sold off, and Nasdaq futures are falling nearly twice as far as S&P futures.

Rates are the second pressure. The bond market was shut on Wednesday, so Treasuries are now absorbing both Tuesday's hot inflation report and the equity rally. The 10-year yield is up 5bp at 5.048% and the 5-year is up 6.6bp, which shows the market is pricing more Fed tightening. Higher yields reduce today's value of profits expected years from now. That hits richly valued growth stocks hardest, which is why rates and the Nvidia story are hurting the same part of the market.

Gold is down 2.42% at $3,903.80 with no clean single cause. Higher yields make a metal that pays no income less attractive, but the dollar index is flat, so a stronger dollar is not the explanation. Europe opened firmer on strong third-quarter results and lower energy prices, then gave ground as the Nvidia news landed and the US open approached.

Nerves are rising but this is not panic. The VIX is up 1.44 points at 18.93. The MOVE index, which tracks bond-market volatility, jumped 7.5% to 92.43 in Tuesday's CPI session. Wednesday's US gains were narrower than the headline suggests. By PrimerIQ's count, 3,419 stocks rose and 2,502 fell, and our technology median gained 2.12% while real estate's slipped 0.47%. That leadership was concentrated in exactly the area now under pressure. Asia shows what a tech sell-off looks like: by our count 8,891 stocks fell against 3,531 that rose, and the tech median dropped 2.40%. There is no classic flight to safety. Gold and Treasuries are both being sold, which points to a sector shock plus a rates repricing rather than a broad run from risk.

Initial jobless claims rose 9,000 to 200,000 in the week to 7 November, against a 195,000 forecast. The prior week was revised to 191,000. Continuing claims fell 20,000 to 1.697 million, and claims have stayed at or below 200,000 since mid-September. That slight miss does little to soften the labour-market picture.

The bigger macro driver is still Tuesday's October CPI. Prices rose 0.4% on the month against a 0.3% forecast, and core inflation rose 0.3%, slightly above expectations. Afterwards, futures implied an 85% chance of a quarter-point hike at the 8–9 December meeting and a 15% chance of a half-point move. Governor Waller has argued for the larger step.

Still to come: October existing home sales at 10:00 ET, with about 3.89 million expected against 3.99 million. EIA oil inventories follow at 12:00 ET, a day late because of the holiday. Barr, Hammack, Goolsbee, Daly and Schmid speak during the day, and New York Fed President Williams speaks this evening. October PPI is due at 08:30 ET on Friday.

Nebius reported before the bell. Revenue of $980.8 million beat the roughly $907 million expected. However, it said 2026 revenue will land at the low end of its $3–3.4 billion range and raised capital spending to $27 billion. The shares are sharply lower pre-market, also caught in the Nvidia selling. In Europe, Allianz and Munich Re beat expectations and lifted their outlooks, and Merck KGaA raised its profit guidance; all three traded higher.