Asian stocks fragile, Nvidia plummets as board to decide CEO's fate

Detailed summary

Nvidia shares plunged in after-hours trading on news that its ​board may oust longtime CEO Jensen Huang

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Global stocks wobbled at the start of Asian trade on Thursday, while Nvidia shares plunged in after-hours trading on news that its ​board may oust longtime CEO Jensen Huang.

Nvidia's board is meeting late Wednesday ​to decide whether to oust Huang, a source familiar with the matter said, as ‌the world's dominant supplier of AI processors grapples with the fallout of allegations that he had an affair with a suspected spy for China.

The New York Times has also reported that Huang had had an affair with a company executive who reported to him.

"It looks bad from every single angle," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer at Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"I believe the board won't oust him until they have an all-star, a known entity in the tech sector, to replace him," he said. "At the end of the day, let's not forget that the Nvidia chip is the centrepiece of the AI story."

Shares in Nvidia ‌slid more than 8% after the bell, weighing on S&P 500 e-mini futures, which slipped 0.4%.

Regional indexes fared better after a choppy start. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.2%, Taiwanese shares gained 0.5%, Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.5% and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.1% lower, weighed down by shares in Hong Kong.

Stocks on Wall Street made gains on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 1.3% and coming close to retracing all of the losses since last ​week's US midterm elections.

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