US markets opened on a mixed note on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 moving in opposite directions as investors assessed weakness in technology stocks. The S&P 500 gained 0.4% at the opening bell, while the Nasdaq 100 declined 0.3%, reflecting pressure on the tech-heavy index. Nvidia remained in focus during early trade. The chipmaker’s shares initially jumped as much as 2.3% at the opening but failed to hold on to the gains. The stock soon reversed course, slipping more than 1% as trading progressed. The early moves highlighted the contrasting performance across Wall Street, with broader market gains failing to provide support to technology stocks.
Nvidia shares dropped 3.3% as investors continued to assess the fallout from Jensen Huang’s resignation as CEO. The development has raised concerns about the wider artificial intelligence (AI) sector, given Nvidia’s central role in the industry’s growth and its financial links with several companies.
The weakness was not limited to Nvidia. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 5%, with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and Broadcom losing 9.4% and 5.8%, respectively. AI-focused cloud companies CoreWeave and Nebius also declined 10% and 13.7%, respectively.
Among the major technology companies, Apple and Meta were the only gainers in the Magnificent Seven group, rising more than 1% each. Microsoft shares fell 0.6% following an outage that affected Outlook and Teams for more than 12 hours.
Softer producer inflation offers some relief
Data released on Friday showed that US producer prices rose 0.3% in October, slightly below economists’ expectations of a 0.4% increase. The reading offered some relief to investors worried about inflation and the Federal Reserve’s future interest rate decisions.
However, markets continue to expect another rate hike next month. Some policymakers have also raised the possibility of a larger 50-basis-point increase instead of the widely anticipated 25-basis-point move.
Angelo Kourkafas, senior global investment strategist at Edward Jones, said inflation remains elevated but there are no signs of it getting out of control.
Meanwhile, shares of Cerebras surged more than 11% after the chip and cloud computing company raised its 2026 revenue forecast and announced Microsoft as a customer.
Corporate earnings have provided some support to the broader market. Of the 450 S&P 500 companies that had reported results through Thursday, 83.6% had beaten earnings expectations, according to LSEG Data and Analytics.
Investors are also keeping an eye on geopolitical developments, with oil prices rising for a third consecutive session amid uncertainty surrounding US-Iran relations.
(Inputs from Reuters)