As if last week couldn’t have gotten any busier, the biggest business story of the year rocked investors as scandal embroiled Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and forced the “godfather of AI” to step aside, a proposition that looked unthinkable only days earlier. But lest we forget, the news cycle goes on, and this week brings
As if last week couldn’t have gotten any busier, the biggest business story of the year rocked investors as scandal embroiled Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and forced the “godfather of AI” to step aside, a proposition that looked unthinkable only days earlier.
But lest we forget, the news cycle goes on, and this week brings its own major headline: Anthropic’s (ANTH.PVT) IPO, expected to price on Wednesday and trade on Thursday.
As the first pure-play generative AI company to come to market, investors will be paying close attention to every angle.
7,561.67 -30.73 (-0.40%)
At close: November 13 at 4:43:19 PM EST
^GSPC^DJI ^IXIC
Markets will go into a fresh week continuing the feeling of post-election whiplash, though perhaps for different AI-based reasons. But incredibly, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) is almost exactly where it was before the election results as, once again, major headlines and crosscurrents have more or less canceled each other out.
Lots of action, little motion, broadly speaking.
Anthropic will dominate headlines this week, but that doesn’t mean we’ve got an empty calendar of other news happening. On the earnings front, Nvidia (NVDA) (of all companies, what timing!) will report its quarterly results on Tuesday, with interim CEO Colette Kress set to helm the management call after the sudden call-up.
It’s also a huge week for retail. We’ve got big box stores Target (TGT) on Wednesday, and Walmart (WMT) and Ross Stores (ROST) on Thursday, with BJ’s Wholesale Club (BJ) rounding out the group on Friday for a check on consumer spending and outlook.
In the tech space, Palo Alto Networks (PANW) and Bending Spoons (BSP) will report on Wednesday and Friday, respectively. Two of China’s largest companies, Baidu (BIDU) and Alibaba (BABA), will give their own results on Monday and Thursday, respectively.
On the economic data calendar, the key readouts will be retail sales data on Tuesday and the University of Michigan’s twice-monthly readout on consumer sentiment on Friday.
An AI world without Jensen looks to what’s next
In a move practically unthinkable only a week ago, Jensen Huang resigned on Thursday as CEO of Nvidia, the world’s leading chipmaker and, up until recently, the market’s most valuable company.
The headlines trickled in slowly at first before a deluge of reports revealed affairs first with a Chinese national suspected by US intelligence to be a spy for Beijing — and then with two Nvidia employees.
While the board looks for a permanent replacement, CFO Colette Kress has taken up the mantle as interim CEO, with tons of open questions facing the company Huang founded more than 30 years ago.
Perhaps chief among those is who can replace the man who has more or less single-handedly driven Nvidia forward since its inception and become the face of the AI trade —and bull market.
162.85 -3.34 (-2.01%)
At close: November 13 at 4:00:01 PM EST
161.01 -1.84 (-1.13%)
After hours: November 13 at 7:59:56 PM EST
The news of Huang’s entanglement with an alleged Chinese spy — which comes after years of forceful comments from the disgraced CEO that Nvidia should be able to sell its best chips into China — has also led members of Congress to call a series of hearings.
Over the next month, Huang, Nvidia general counsel Tim Teter, and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick are all expected to testify and answer questions from both chambers of Congress about not only Huang’s conduct, but potential violations of US export policy.
It’s safe to say that there’s a lot of confusion swirling around a company that reports earnings this week. As our tech editor Daniel Howley writes, this past week’s upheaval won’t impact earnings this quarter or next. Nvidia has sales locked in well in advance, meaning its bottom line won’t take a hit for some time, if at all.
That said, Kress will have to acknowledge Huang’s departure and the company’s plans moving forward during the call. And analysts will have plenty of questions, as a number of analysts have already either downgraded or cut their price targets on Nvidia stock.
Baird Equity Research analyst Tristan Gerra said Huang’s resignation turns a page for Nvidia but that the episode hasn’t hit its bottom yet.
“Headwinds include potential incremental senior management departures, H200 write-down charges, potential risk channel revenue adjustments, potential litigation [and] fines, uncertainties until [a] new CEO is announced along with the risk of some market share loss in 2029 as customers make contingency plans on a major top management transition and looking beyond the current product roadmap, along with more clarity on the next CEO’s views regarding customer financings,” Gerra wrote in an investor note Thursday.
Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang speaks with the media ahead of a meeting with the Senate Banking Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 3, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo ·REUTERS / REUTERS
Anthropic prepares to go public
Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines. It’s time for one of the most anticipated IPOs of the year.
Anthropic will price its initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday, Nov. 18, the company announced Thursday. It will begin trading under the Nasdaq ticker symbol “ANT” on Thursday, Nov. 19, providing the next major test for the AI trade and could set the standard for rival OpenAI’s (OPAI.PVT) own public markets debut, which is anticipated for early next year.
In an amended S-1 filing released Tuesday, Anthropic said it expects to sell 825 million shares priced between $70 and $78. That would give the company a market valuation of between $1.3 trillion and $1.45 trillion. Anthropic was initially projected to hit the market with a valuation as high as $2 trillion, but recent market turmoil in the AI sector has knocked that down significantly.
For the first nine months of the year ending Sept. 30, Anthropic said revenue grew $1,206% to $33.2 billion. But the AI giant also revealed a staggering aggregate committed spend of $895.4 billion, which it says is primarily related to compute and infrastructure.
Also of note: Jensen Huang’s former company is tied to the IPO. Nvidia (NVDA) is set to invest up to $10 billion in Anthropic through a private placement ahead of the IPO, per Anthropic’s prospectus. That investment is set to be matched only by that of Alphabet (GOOG), which is also pegged to invest $10 billion in what is expected to be a $26 billion private placement, with the remaining $6 billion coming from a group of other Big Tech firms, including Broadcom (AVGO), Micron (MU), and Microsoft (MSFT).
Having a major anchor such as Nvidia on board for the IPO would usually give investors confidence in the strength of the offering. The recent scandal surrounding Jensen Huang could rattle that sense of security.
CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei, addresses the gathering at the AI Impact Summit, in New Delhi, India, February 19, 2026. REUTERS/Bhawika Chhabra/File Photo ·Reuters / REUTERS
Walmart and the big box stores to deliver a big retail check
Last week’s inflation readings showed both consumer and wholesale prices heat up, worrying signs for the inflation fight. But read another way, they’re also potential signs that, once again, the US consumer is proving indefatigable.
The 6.5% year-over-year increase in prices producers are paying — factories, farmers, and pre-consumers in the supply chain — is another data point showing elevated pricing pressure as oil costs trickle through the economy.
The initial read on all this: December’s Fed hike looks even more likely, and next year may see even more action from the Fed.
A general view of the Walmart table setup during the Florida A&M Homecoming 5th Annual Walmart 5 K Walk at Bragg Memorial Stadium on the Florida A&M University campus on October 22, 2026, in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Jeffery D. Adams/ Florida A&M University via Getty Images) ·Florida A&M University via Getty Images
With Walmart, Target, and other big retailers reporting this week, as well as another check on consumer sentiment and government retail sales data, we’ll finish the week with a much better picture of the demand side of the consumer and retail stories.
This is especially critical given how a strong consumer has been a positive buffer and counterweight to other negative market forces over the past few years.
Economic and earnings calendar
Monday
Economic data: Empire Manufacturing, November (19 expected, 25.5 prior)
Economic data: Philadelphia Fed business outlook, November (23.2 expected, 20.9 prior); Initial jobless claims, week ended Nov. 14 (197,000 expected, 200,000 prior); Continuing claims, week ended Nov. 7 (1.697 million prior); Kansas City Fed manufacturing activity, November (11 prior)
Earnings calendar: Walmart (WMT), Alibaba Group (BABA), PDD Holdings (PDD), Intuit (INTU), Ross Stores (ROST), Williams-Sonoma (WSM), Warner Music Group (WMG), The Gap (GAP), Bath & Body Works (BBWI), Webull Corporation (BULL)
Friday
Economic data: U. Mich. sentiment, November final reading (53.3 expected, 51 prior); U. Mich. current conditions, November final reading (51 prior); U. Mich. expectations, November final reading (50.9 prior); U. Mich. 1-year inflation, November final reading (+4.3% prior); U. Mich. 5-10 year inflation, November final reading (+3.4% prior); Kansas City Fed services activity, November (10 prior)
Toolq Media Is a Global News Platform Covering the Latest Developments and Breaking Stories from Around The World, Including World News, Business, Finance, Technology, Health, Politics, Science, Entertainment, Sports, and More.
