Nvidia's Leadership Crisis Drags Tech Futures Lower as Wall Street Braces for a Volatile Thursday

Wall Street heads into Thursday's open with its most important company in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Technology futures slipped before dawn as Nvidia shares fell sharply on reports that the chipmaker's board is weighing whether to remove chief executive Jensen Huang.

As of 5:26 a.m. Eastern, Nasdaq-100 futures were down 0.63% and S&P 500 futures were off 0.31%, while Dow futures were up 0.09%, TipRanks reported. Earlier, at 4:11 a.m., Reuters had Nasdaq 100 e-minis down 0.79% and S&P 500 e-minis down 0.38%, with the Dow essentially flat.

Nvidia fell about 7% in premarket trading after reports that its board was considering ousting Huang over two alleged extramarital affairs, Reuters reported. The Wall Street Journal reported that the board was preparing to remove him and planned to meet as soon as Wednesday, according to Investing.com. Citing Reuters, TipRanks reported that the board met Wednesday to discuss Huang's future and that no final decision had been announced.

The New York Times has also reported that Huang had a relationship with a company executive, Yahoo Finance noted. Nvidia had not announced any change in leadership as of early Thursday.

The stakes for shareholders are enormous. Huang owns about 3.6% of the company, and analysts at Yorkville Ives warned that the business could lose a quarter of its valuation if he departs, Investing.com reported. Nvidia's chips power much of the artificial intelligence buildout, and it carries heavy weight in the major indexes, which is why its stumble is dragging down the broader technology sector.

The selling spread to Nvidia's partners and peers. Intel, Marvell and Micron fell between 2.6% and 3.4% before the bell, while AI cloud providers CoreWeave and Nebius dropped 7.2% and 4.7%, Reuters reported. Tesla slipped 0.8% and Alphabet rose 0.5%.

Not everyone sees a broader AI retreat. "We don't see capital expenditure on AI slowing down," said Tom Hulick, chief executive of Strategy Asset Managers, according to Reuters.

The early weakness follows a strong Wednesday. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.60%, the S&P 500 gained 1.31% and the Dow added 0.49%, with CoreWeave jumping nearly 25%, TipRanks reported.

"The crazy whipsawing post midterms continued yesterday," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note quoted by Investing.com.

Overseas, the Nvidia story rippled through Asia. Alibaba fell more than 6% in Hong Kong amid concern over U.S. scrutiny of chip exports to China, Investing.com reported. The company had rented Nvidia chips through Megaspeed, the firm whose founder is at the center of the scandal, and Beijing urged Washington not to use the affair as a pretext for tighter export curbs, according to the outlet, citing Bloomberg.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.26%, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.67% and Japan's Nikkei 225 slipped 0.70%, while European indexes traded higher, TipRanks reported. London's FTSE 100 was up 0.31%, Yahoo Finance reported.

Oil eased. Brent crude fell 0.51% to $92.29 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate slid 0.51% to $86.09, TipRanks reported, as traders weighed hopes for peace talks in the Middle East and between Russia and Ukraine. Investing.com noted a Wall Street Journal report that Vice President JD Vance was considering in-person talks with a senior Iranian security official.

Interest rates remain the other big worry. Hotter-than-expected inflation data have fueled bets that the Federal Reserve could deliver a larger-than-normal rate hike at its December meeting, Investing.com reported. For families, that means mortgage, car loan and credit card rates are unlikely to get relief soon.

Investors get fresh data on the job market Thursday. Weekly initial jobless claims are due, after a reading of 189,000 the prior week, along with existing home sales, Yahoo Finance reported.

Earnings will keep the technology focus sharp. Cisco and Applied Materials report after the close, and Nebius reports before the open, according to Investing.com. Intuitive Machines is also on Thursday's calendar, TipRanks reported.

For long-term investors, the lesson of a morning like this is an old one: no single company, however dominant, should carry a retirement portfolio. Nvidia's leadership question will be answered in the boardroom. The rest of the market's direction will depend on jobs, inflation and the Fed.