North American Morning Briefing: Stock Futures Mixed as Investors Parse Fallout From Jensen Huang's Exit

Stock futures were mixed, with the Nasdaq edging lower as investors

wonder who will replace Jensen Huang amid Nvidia's ongoing crisis.

Shares in Nvidia were rebounding more than 2% in premarket trading.

Two huge tests are coming up for the AI trade next week. Nvidia is due to report earnings on Tuesday while Anthropic is expected to go public on Thursday in what's set to be the world's largest IPO.

Meanwhile, Microsoft fell premarket as the company worked to resolve an outage that is affecting its Teams and Outlook services.

Oil prices fell as traders weighed continued disruptions to Middle Eastern oil shipments against prospects for U.S.-Iran diplomacy.

The global market is expected to return to a surplus in the final quarter of this year for the first time since the outbreak of the Iran war, as a recovery in Middle Eastern exports outpaces demand, the International Energy Agency said.

Elsewhere, traders were back on yen intervention watch after Japan's currency weakened to its lowest level against the dollar in two months and the country's finance minister issued a fresh warning against speculative foreign-exchange moves.

For the day ahead, investors are awaiting October's producer price index to be released today.

Stocks to watch

Advanced Micro Devices, Broadcom: Shares in the chip makers bounced yesterday as rival Nvidia skidded. Investors put the brakes on that advance Friday, with shares in both pulling back premarket.

Microsoft: A major global outage in the software giant's Microsoft 365 services extended into Friday as the company struggled to find a fix. Shares fell about 2% premarket.

Nvidia looks on track to regain some ground as investors come to terms with the departure of Jensen Huang. On the agenda Friday: how Huang will respond to a request from the Senate Banking Committee to testify next month.

Strategy: Bitcoin fell to its lowest level since mid-August as a cryptocurrency selloff deepened. That's another bit of bad news for bitcoin hoarder Strategy, after index provider MSCI said it would drop the stock from its indexes yesterday. Its shares are on course to extend their losses.

Watch For:

U.S. Producer Price Index for October

Today's Top Headlines/Must Reads:

- Before His Ouster, Jensen Huang Belittled the Executive Replacing Him

- They Were the Indispensable CEOs-Until They Weren't

- Degrees Lead Nowhere. Jobs Don't Exist. Welcome to India's Youth Revolt.

MARKET WRAPS Forex:

The dollar eased slightly but remained near the 19-month high reached Thursday, supported by the prospect of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates by as much as 50 basis points in December.

The greenback's sharp rally could have further to go if U.S. wholesale inflation are firm and Fed policymakers signal further interest-rate rises, ING said.

The euro rose. France faces fiscal concerns and political uncertainty ahead of the presidential election in 2027, which could weaken the euro, Commerzbank said. Bonds:

Treasury yields mostly rose as inflationary pressures keep expectations for further Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes strong, but the pace of the selloff slowed compared with Thursday. A 5% yield on the five-year Treasury is attractive, according to Jefferies. RBC Capital Markets said bond yields are expected to be flat to higher heading into year-end and the first quarter before turning stable to lower over the rest of the forecast horizon. Energy:

Oil prices were down. ING said recovering Middle Eastern production had eased immediate supply concerns, although reliance on alternative export routes continued to leave shipments vulnerable to disruption. The pace at which traffic through the Strait of Hormuz returns to normal remains a key factor for oil prices, it added. Metals:

Gold contracts were steady at around $3,900 a troy ounce.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES

Microsoft Working to Fix Widespread Outage

Microsoft said it is working to resolve an outage that has disrupted services including Outlook and Teams since Thursday, with government departments and schools from the U.S. to Australia among those affected.

According to outage tracker Downdetector, hundreds of thousands of users have reported problems in more than 70 countries.

China's Moonshot AI Restructures to Pave Way for IPO

Chinese artificial-intelligence startup Moonshot AI is wrapping up a corporate restructuring that would pave the way for an initial public offering.

Moonshot's operations are mainly in China, but it has a holding company incorporated in the Cayman Islands. Many of its early backers invested in that entity in dollars. Now, Moonshot is deactivating the holding company and moving investors' stakes to its primary operating entity in China, according to people familiar with the matter.

Jensen Huang Has Been Ousted as Nvidia CEO

Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang has resigned after two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy and another with an employee.

The company said Thursday that finance chief Colette Kress had agreed to serve as interim CEO until a permanent successor is named. The board is starting a search for the company's next CEO and will consider internal and external candidates.

Baker McKenzie Looks to Abandon the Billable Hour

Law firm Baker McKenzie is shifting away from billing clients by the hour as a default, a sign of how artificial intelligence is upending traditional payment structures in the legal industry.

The firm has begun charging clients on a value-based billing model, according to Global Chair Sunny Mann. When pivoting toward solutions aided by technology and the use of AI, charging by the hour doesn't always make sense anymore, he said.

Global Oil Market Set to Return to Surplus as Gulf Exports Recover, IEA Says

The global oil market is expected to return to a surplus in the final quarter of this year for the first time since the outbreak of the Iran war, as a recovery in Middle Eastern exports outpaces demand, the International Energy Agency said Friday.

Global oil supply rose by 2.3 million barrels a day in October to 105.4 million barrels a day, following a 3 million-barrel-a-day increase in September. The recovery has helped ease market tightness despite continuing attacks on energy infrastructure and commercial tankers.

Jensen Huang's Exit Will Test AI's Stocks, and Great-Man Theory

Wall Street once believed the artificial-intelligence boom revolved around Nvidia's Jensen Huang as planets orbit the sun. The question now is what happens when a star implodes.

Huang's resignation Thursday following revelations that he had two extramarital affairs, including one with a suspected Chinese spy, threatens the artificial-intelligence boom he helped propel and tests the great-man theory that the course of history is often determined by singular individuals.

Oil Prices Rise as Middle East Supply Risks Persist

Oil prices rose Friday, rebounding from declines earlier in the session, as traders weighed continued disruptions to Middle Eastern oil shipments against prospects for U.S.-Iran diplomacy.

Front-month Brent crude futures rose 0.6% to $96.43 a barrel in early European trading, while front-month West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 0.2% to $88.89 a barrel.

Two-Year Treasury Stabilizes as Eurozone, U.S. Bond Yields Rise

U.S. Treasury yields mostly rose in European trade on Friday as inflationary pressures kept expectations for further Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes strong, while eurozone government bond yields also increased.

The yield on two-year Treasurys-hardest hit by Thursday's selloff-was marginally lower at 4.849%, while the 10-year Treasury yield rose 2.4 basis points to 5.126%, according to Tradeweb.

A New York Construction Worker Fell for a Tiny Car-and Started a Rebellion

Christina Dravis dragged a tiny, imported truck 300 miles north from a dealer in Maryland to her home in upstate New York, only to find out it was illegal to drive.

That's when she joined the resistance.

Baker McKenzie Looks to Abandon the Billable Hour

Law firm Baker McKenzie is shifting away from billing clients by the hour as a default, a sign of how artificial intelligence is upending traditional payment structures in the legal industry.

The firm has begun charging clients on a value-based billing model, according to Global Chair Sunny Mann. When pivoting toward solutions aided by technology and the use of AI, charging by the hour doesn't always make sense anymore, he said.

Lutnick Fights for His Job as Trump Aides Blame Him for Nvidia Fallout

WASHINGTON-As the fallout from Jensen Huang's affair with a suspected Chinese intelligence source continues to consume the West Wing, some of President Trump's top advisers have started shifting blame for the political mess toward one man: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Lutnick has been a primary target of the finger-pointing within the administration because of his efforts to stall restrictions on chip exports, his longstanding relationship with the outgoing Nvidia chief executive and his pre-existing tensions with some members of the administration, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Iran's New Cyber Playbook: Create Real-World Havoc

TEL AVIV-Operators of small-town water stations locked out of control panels across the Midwest. Networks on two Texas-bound energy tankers breached as they crossed into the Atlantic Ocean. Hundreds of refrigerators in European grocery stores ratcheted up to a blistering 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

Three cyberattacks since this summer with real-world impacts and one main suspect: Iranian hackers.

Write to priscila.barrera@wsj.com

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November 13, 2026 06:16 ET (11:16 GMT)