Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch — an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Stocks are showing resilience on Thursday as investors grappled with the fallout from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's resignation amid a widening affair scandal. The S & P 500 is down about 0.25% in afternoon trading. By sector within the S & P 500, energy, communication service, and utilities, consumer staples, and consumer discretionary outperformed. Meanwhile, materials, industrials, and information technology were weaker. Oil is moving back up after President Donald Trump said on Truth Social that the U.S. doesn't need to make a deal with Iran, claiming "we've got their Strait," in reference to the Strait of Hormuz. This suggests the risk of renewed tensions in the Middle East may be higher than the reconciliatory tone expected after the Republicans' midterm losses last week. Bond yields spiked again, continuing the move we saw Tuesday in reaction to a hot consumer price index report . The bond market was closed Wednesday in…
Who will replace Jensen Huang? Here's our early thoughts on the search for Nvidia's next CEO
In short
The semiconductor giant's shares tumbled 5% after reports from The New York Times and Reuters revealed former CEO Jensen Huang engaged in affairs with two separate employees. In response to the leadership vacuum, Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress has emerged as a viable candidate for the interim top role, while CUDA inventor Ian Buck is considered a top internal successor. Market participants are also evaluating outside contenders, ranging from Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora to the leaders of Alphabet and Amazon's cloud divisions. The turmoil coincided with broader market weakness, driven by rising bond yields following a hot consumer price index reading.
Key points
- The leadership crisis at Nvidia comes as the company attempts to protect its artificial i…: The leadership crisis at Nvidia comes as the company attempts to protect its artificial intelligence roadmap while addressing executive misconduct fallout.
- Rivals and hyperscalers with internal chip initiatives, such as Amazon and Alphabet, outp…: Rivals and hyperscalers with internal chip initiatives, such as Amazon and Alphabet, outperformed the broader market following the shakeup.
- Market participants face additional headwinds from rising bond yields, elevated oil price…: Market participants face additional headwinds from rising bond yields, elevated oil prices, and upcoming earnings reports from Cisco Systems and Applied Materials.