US indexes rise as Nasdaq rebounds despite Nvidia slide amid CEO investigation
The Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all posted gains on Monday while Nvidia shares fell after the company's board announced an investigation into CEO Jensen Huang’s personal conduct.
U.S. equity markets opened higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.7%, the S&P 500 gaining 2.1% and the Nasdaq Composite climbing 2.6% after all three indexes posted losses the previous week. The broad rally came despite a sharp drop in Nvidia (NVDA) shares, which fell as much as 8% before easing, after the board disclosed an independent investigation into CEO Jensen Huang’s extramarital relationship with a woman alleged to have ties to Chinese intelligence.
In a memo to employees obtained by the Financial Times, Huang acknowledged the affair, apologized to his family and said he would cooperate fully with the board’s review. Analysts noted the episode creates “key-person risk” for the AI-chip maker, but the impact appeared limited to Nvidia, with other chip stocks such as AMD, Micron and ASML posting gains.
Tech and industrial stocks led the market’s advance, and Tesla rose about 5% in morning trading. Energy prices continued to decline, with Brent crude futures hovering near $95 a barrel.
Investors are also awaiting this week’s inflation data and a slate of earnings reports, including those from Hims & Hers, Rocket Lab and Monday.com. Meanwhile, Alphabet announced two new tensor processing units aimed at competing with Nvidia’s AI chips, sending Google shares up nearly 3% in pre-market trading.
Analysts such as Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives expect the board investigation to proceed without immediate changes to Huang’s role, though they anticipate possible congressional scrutiny.
Overall, the market’s gains suggest that investors remain focused on the broader AI trade and upcoming economic data, rather than being deterred by the Nvidia scandal.