Investing.com– U.S. stock index futures rose on Thursday evening, recovering some ground after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s abrupt exit from the company sparked some losses on Wall Street.
But Wall Street was still headed for weekly gains, as technology stocks mostly maintained their rebound from losses clocked through October and early-November.
Buying into companies that could potentially benefit from leadership turmoil at Nvidia also helped limit losses on Wall Street.
S&P 500 Futures rose 0.2% to 7,630.25 points by 18:17 ET (23:17 GMT). Nasdaq 100 Futures rose 0.3% to 28,471.75 points, while Dow Jones Futures rose 0.08% to 52,427.0 points.
Nvidia rises slightly after-hours following 4% drop on Huang exit
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares rose 0.8% in aftermarket trade, recovering gingerly after sliding more than 4% during the main session.
CEO Jensen Huang stepped down on Thursday after reports of multiple extramarital affairs– with at least two Nvidia employees that reported to him, and with a suspected Chinese spy.
Huang had led Nvidia since co-founding the artificial intelligence darling in 1993, and also oversaw its development of cutting-edge AI processors that raked in bumper returns in recent years.
Nvidia’s current CFO Colette Kress will take over as interim CEO, while the board searches for a permanent replacement.
Huang’s exit also threatens to disrupt an AI ecosystem he helped build by investing Nvidia’s massive cash piles in scores of startups and cloud providers, many of which are also the company’s customers.
This notion triggered some losses across broader chipmaking stocks, especially with markets already nervous about a slowdown in AI-related spending. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 0.8% on Thursday.
But Nvidia rivals, including AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) and Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO), jumped over 5% apiece, on bets that governance issues at the chipmaker will open up more of its market share.
AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CBRS) jumped 17% in aftermarket trade after it reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and guidance, and also announced a new deal with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
