Stock Market Crash [LIVE]: How Jensen Huang’s Resignation Is Hitting Nvidia, Nasdaq And BTC

US stocks were on track for a weaker open on Thursday after Nvidia said Jensen Huang is stepping down as CEO, removing the AI industry’s most influential figure, Reuters reported. As of 8:58 am New York time, Nasdaq 100 futures were down 353.5 points, or 1.24%, while S&P 500 futures lost 47.25 points, or 0.62%. Dow futures were almost flat, slipping 41 points. Tech stocks bore the brunt of the selling, with Nvidia shares down close to 10% in premarket trading at around $156. Chief financial officer Colette Kress has taken over as interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. The shock adds to pressure on markets already worried about a likely Federal Reserve rate hike in December after hotter-than-expected inflation data. Crypto also remained weak, with Bitcoin trading near $72,300.

As recently as Monday, Jensen Huang looked set to keep his job. Market watchers, venture investors and even President Trump expected the Nvidia chief to ride out the scandal, and tech allies including Elon Musk publicly backed him. That changed on Wednesday. The New York Times, citing five former employees, reported that Huang had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia’s healthcare vice president, who reported directly to him. Within hours, the Wall Street Journal said the board was meeting to discuss his future, and by Thursday he was gone. The first revelation centred on Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive who US officials reportedly believe passed information to China’s Ministry of State Security and sought insight into advanced AI chips. The affair has raised questions over whether it shaped Huang’s push to sell chips to China, and possibly influenced Trump’s export control decisions.

The crypto market extended its slide on Thursday, with major tokens posting steep weekly losses. Bitcoin fell 1.9% over 24 hours to $72,296.50 and is down 9% over the past week, according to CoinGecko. Ether dropped 2.1% to $2,005.29, leaving it 16% lower for the week and close to the $2,000 mark. XRP was hit hardest among the top coins, slipping 2.3% to $1.03 and losing nearly 21% in seven days, putting the $1 level at risk. Solana declined 3% to $81.03, down 14.6% on the week, while BNB lost 3.8% to $654.07. Tether and USDC held their dollar pegs. Pressure is coming from several directions. Hot US inflation data has lifted odds of a December Fed rate hike to about 90%, tech stocks remain volatile after Jensen Huang’s shock resignation from Nvidia, and investors continue to pull money from riskier assets.

US AI neocloud stocks extended their premarket losses following Jensen Huang’s immediate resignation as Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) CEO, triggering further selling across the AI cloud infrastructure sector. Nebius (NASDAQ: NBIS) led the decline, falling 20.1% in premarket trading. CoreWeave (NASDAQ: CRWV) dropped 13.6%, while the Roundhill Neocloud ETF declined 12.5%. IREN shares also fell 8.1%. The selloff reflects growing uncertainty across the AI infrastructure market following the leadership change at Nvidia, a major supplier of AI chips used by neocloud companies.