Wall Street erases its early loss after absorbing big swings for Nvidia’s stock and oil prices

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The U.S. stock market has erased its early losses on Thursday after absorbing big swings for Nvidia’s stock and oil prices.

NEW YORK — The U.S. stock market has erased its early losses on Thursday after absorbing big swings for Nvidia’s stock and oil prices. The moves suggest Wall Street sees limited fallout for the artificial intelligence industry, which carries immense influence on the market, following the sudden fall for one of its biggest evangelists.

After dropping nearly one per cent at the start of trading, the S&P 500 quickly erased all of the loss and turned 0.3 per cent higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 195 points, or 0.4 per cent, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was up 0.3 per cent after eliminating its early drop of 1.6 per cent.

At the centre of the swings was Nvidia’s stock. It plunged 14 per cent at the start of trading following the resignation of Jensen Huang, its CEO, co-founder and face of the brand. The chip company’s stock has been sinking since its board announced an investigation into Huang for a relationship with a woman suspected of being a Chinese government agent.

It’s a stunning fall for Huang and for Nvidia, which had become Wall Street’s most valuable and influential stock because of its central role in the AI boom. Its stock price set a record last month after soaring an astounding 1,722 per cent in four years. That compares with the already healthy gain of nearly 109 per cent for the overall S&P 500 over the same time.

But Nvidia’s price dropped 27 per cent from then through Wednesday on worries about whether Huang would remain as CEO and how Nvidia would navigate a future without him. Nvidia’s board answered the first question Thursday morning, when it said Huang resigned, and it named Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress as its interim CEO.

The second question remains to be determined. And it looms over the entire market because Nvidia and the broader AI industry have been the main reasons the U.S. stock market has set so many records in recent years.

Nvidia, to be sure, is still selling AI chips at a quick rate…

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