Nvidia Falls 8% Pre-Market as Its Board Decides the Fate of Jensen Huang

NEW YORK, Nov 12 — U.S. stock futures pointed lower before the open on Thursday, with one stock doing most of the damage. S&P 500 futures fell 0.39% to 7,611.00 and Nasdaq futures dropped 0.81% to 28,243.25, while Dow futures were flat at 52,585.00, up 0.01%. Russell 2000 futures eased 0.08% to 2,851.40. The soft open follows a strong Wednesday session in which the S&P 500 rose 1.31% to 7,619.38, the Nasdaq gained 1.60% to 25,466.19 and the Dow added 0.49% to 52,486.49 — a rally the Nvidia board story has now put in doubt.

Nvidia: the board watch#

Nvidia (Nasdaq: NVDA) traded at $159.12 in pre-market trade at 7:09 a.m. ET, down 8.41% from the Wednesday close of $173.73, extending an after-hours slide of 8.6% that erased about $350 billion of market value in a single evening. The drop caps a five-session slide of about 16% for the stock at the center of the AI trade.

The board met late into Wednesday night to decide whether to oust chief executive Jensen Huang, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. As of Thursday morning there was no decision, no company statement and no new SEC filing: Huang remains chief executive, and investors expect clarity later on Thursday, according to Dow Jones. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the board was preparing to remove him after reports of two extramarital relationships, one of them with a woman U.S. intelligence officials believe is a Chinese intelligence asset, and the New York Times reported a second relationship with Kimberly Powell, the vice president of healthcare who reports to him. Nvidia has not commented on the reports, and Reuters could not verify the Times reporting. Semafor reported that some directors favor chief financial officer Colette Kress as an interim chief executive, and Bloomberg has reported the company is working with an outside firm on successors. While Nvidia sank, its rivals rose: Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom each gained over 3% in pre-market trade.

Two fixed dates now frame the story. Nvidia reports third-quarter results on Tuesday, November 17, and three House committee chairs have asked Huang to give a closed-door briefing on November 18.

Rates and commodities#

The 10-year Treasury yield held at 4.99% as trading resumed after the Veterans Day holiday, with the 2-year at 4.76%. Traders are pricing the December 9 Federal Reserve meeting as a hike: CME FedWatch odds compiled by Reuters put an 87.3% chance on a 25-basis-point increase and 12.7% on a 50-basis-point move. The dollar index stood at 102.87, its highest since April of last year.

Gold fell back below $4,000 an ounce, with spot prices down about 1% near $3,940 as the strong dollar and hike bets weighed on the metal. WTI crude settled at $86.53 on Wednesday and traded near $86 a barrel on Thursday morning, with Brent below $93. Henry Hub natural gas traded near $3.30 per million British thermal units, up from $3.00 on November 6.

Refiners remain the quiet winners of this market. The 3:2:1 crack spread — the gap between the price of crude oil and the finished petroleum products it becomes, gasoline and diesel, and in effect the refiner's margin — stood at about $44.50 a barrel. That is down from its recent highs, yet still far above what refiners earned in calmer years.

Mississippi makes history#

The last undecided Senate race of the midterms ended on Wednesday. The Associated Press called Mississippi for Scott Colom, the 43-year-old Democratic district attorney, who defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by 49.2% to 48.7%, a margin of about 4,700 votes after eight days of counting. Hyde-Smith conceded on Wednesday evening.

Colom becomes the first Black senator from Mississippi since Blanche K. Bruce took office in 1875, during Reconstruction, and the first ever elected by popular vote: both Bruce and Hiram Revels, who served from 1870, were chosen by the state legislature. He is also the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Mississippi since John Stennis won reelection in 1982, and his win is the eighth Senate pickup for Democrats in the 2026 midterms. The race carried a personal edge: three years ago, Hyde-Smith blocked Colom's nomination to the federal bench. He launched his campaign against her and has now taken her seat.

On the calendar today#

Weekly jobless claims land at 8:30 a.m. ET, the EIA natural gas storage report follows at 10:30 a.m., and crude oil inventories arrive around midday. Federal Reserve officials including New York Fed President John Williams, Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, Governor Michael Barr and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly are scheduled to speak. After the close, the earnings calendar brings the week's main event: Cisco and Applied Materials both report. Producer prices follow on Friday.

Sources#

• Reuters, "Asian stocks fragile, Nvidia plummets as board to decide CEO's fate," November 12, 2026.
• Reuters, "Nvidia CEO Huang had relationship with executive who reported to him, NYT reports," November 11, 2026.
• Dow Jones Newswires via Morningstar, "Nvidia Leadership Crisis Drags on U.S. Stock Futures, Pressures AI Trade," November 12, 2026.
• Associated Press race call, November 11, 2026, as reported by Mississippi Free Press and Democracy Docket; Hyde-Smith concession reported Wednesday evening.
• Market data: Finnhub (Nvidia pre-market quote, 7:09 a.m. ET), CME FedWatch via Reuters, Fuel Data Portal (3:2:1 crack spread index, November 11), EIA price history via market reports.