European stocks retreat as investors weigh Nvidia leadership change
Nvidia named finance chief Colette Kress as interim chief executive after Jensen Huang’s immediate departure.
London’s FTSE 100 opened with a loss of 0.2 per cent, while the main Paris and Frankfurt indices both declined 0.3 per cent as investors considered the implications of Jensen Huang’s resignation for artificial intelligence. Futures on US stocks, including the Nasdaq 100, also moved lower.
Nvidia said Huang’s departure took immediate effect and covered his roles as president, chief executive and board member. Colette Kress, the company’s long-serving chief financial officer, assumed the interim leadership. Huang co-founded Nvidia and helped shape its AI strategy.
In the preceding US trading session, Nvidia lost 4.3 per cent, whereas competitor Advanced Micro Devices rose 5.9 per cent. Declines of about 0.4 per cent were recorded by each of the three main US stock indices.
Quilter Cheviot’s head of technology research, Ben Barringer, said he did not anticipate a short-term impact on Nvidia if orders stayed strong and the company met its performance targets. He cautioned, however, that Huang’s absence could damage the wider AI ecosystem over the longer term because of his influence over regulation, investment and financing.
Rising crude prices also weighed on equities after US President Donald Trump said an agreement with Iran was unnecessary. Brent traded at US$96.48 a barrel around 07:00 GMT, a gain of 0.7 per cent. West Texas Intermediate increased 0.2 per cent to US$88.91 a barrel.
