Huang ouster fallout; Cisco, Applied Materials outlooks - what’s moving markets Scott Kanowsky Fri, November 13, 2026 at 4:35 AM EST 6 min read MSFT -2.82% NVDA +1.57% AMAT +0.28% CSCO -1.63% GC=F +0.35% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Investing.com - Futures connected to the major U.S. stock indices edge lower, with the contract linked to the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the declines, as tremors from outgoing Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's resignation rattle through global markets. Even as investors fret over the future of Nvidia, Cisco Systems and Applied Materials provide upbeat outlooks that underscore the strength of artificial intelligence demand. Microsoft said it was still working to fix its Outlook and Teams services, while gold bounces from a 13-month low.
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1. Futures dip amid Huang resignation fallout
U.S. stock futures were mostly lower on Friday. By 03:01 ET (08:01 GMT), Nasdaq 100 futures had fallen by 74 points, or 0.3%, while S&P 500 futures had ticked down by 5 points, or 0.1%, and Dow futures were mostly unchanged.
Call it key man risk. Nvidia shares slumped on Thursday after Huang, the rockstar executive who helmed the company's meteoric rise to the center of the artificial intelligence boom, was ousted following reports that he had multiple extramarital affairs, including one with an alleged Chinese spy and another with an employee.
Although Nvidia pared back much deeper losses earlier in the session, the stock dipped by more than 4%, meaning that it has now shed the better part of a trillion dollars in value this month alone.
Analysts were scrambling to assess how Nvidia will recover after Huang's departure, with many fretting over a lack of top-level succession planning at a company that both designs cutting-edge chips needed in AI systems and functions as a kind of central bank backstopping its own customers.
U.S. lawmakers have also indicated that they will be starting investigations into Huang's relationship with companies reportedly involved in smuggling Nvidia's high-end processors into China despite stringent U.S. export rules. For example, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott has sent separate letters to Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick requesting that both men testify before lawmakers in December, Politico reported.
Meanwhile, Nvidia has started a search for Huang's replacement, with President Donald Trump floating former Apple head Tim Cook as a possible candidate for the job. But for now CFO Colette Kress is being tasked with steadying the ship on an interim basis. Kress will need to get her feet under her soon: Nvidia is due to report its latest quarterly returns next week.
While Wall Street shuddered at the implications of the Nvidia controversy for the wider economy, on the whole stocks did not experience the sort of steep selloff seen last week. Yet sentiment seems to still be dour. A metric of Asian equities slipped, while bonds in the U.S., Japan, and Australia retreated. A rise in oil prices, spurred by Trump's claim that the U.S. no longer needs a peace deal with Iran, hasn't helped matters either.
2. Cisco Systems raises full-year outlook
Even as Nvidia reels, the outlook for AI itself has shown signs of resilience.
A notable example has come from Cisco Systems. The world's largest manufacturer of networking gear, Cisco offered a rosy current-quarter sales forecast that topped analysts' estimates and lifted its full-year guidance.
These forecasts, coupled with better-than-expected fiscal second-quarter sales of roughly $18.1 billion, underlined strong demand for the equipment powering data centers. Cisco has been rushing to cater its services to the AI industry and fend off competitors like Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Broadcom in the process. Still, order growth was 21% versus a year ago, down from 35% in the preceding quarter, potentially dampening some of the enthusiasm around Cisco's prospects.
Meanwhile, hovering in the background are sweeping victories in the U.S. midterm elections for Democratic candidates who have vowed to slow the rapid development of data centers.
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3. Applied Materials issues upbeat forecast
Applied Materials also gave an upbeat forecast for current-quarter revenue, wagering that the race to snap up AI chips will prop up demand for its semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
California-based Applied said it expects fiscal first-quarter revenue of around $11.10 billion, plus or minus $500 million, versus analysts' expectations of $10.89 billion, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters.
Fourth-quarter adjusted profit of $4.16 per share also surpassed expectations, thanks in part to a 64% surge in revenue to $8 billion at the group's semiconductor systems unit.
CEO Gary Dickerson told analysts in a post-earnings call that 2027 will be "another record year for the market and Applied." Shares of Applied were slightly lower after-hours, but have spiked by more than 41% so far this year.
4. Microsoft working to restore access after outages
Elsewhere, Microsoft said it was still working to fix its Outlook and Teams services, as a major outage of some of the tech giant's popular services stretched into a second day.
Microsoft said in its latest update it had applied more mitigation measures to restore services across its 365 suite, but noted that it was encountering issues that prevented some of its changes from being implemented.
"We've monitored the status of the changes applied to improve serviceability and confirmed they're not taking as expected," Microsoft said in a social media post.
User reports showed outages across Microsoft365, most notably impacting Teams and Outlook. Services were affected globally, ranging from the Asia-Pacific region to the Americas.
Shares of Microsoft were lower in off-market trading.
5. Gold bounces from 13-month low
Gold prices recovered above $3,900 an ounce on Friday after rebounding from a 13-month low in the previous session, although bullion remained under pressure from rising Treasury yields, a stronger dollar and expectations of further Federal Reserve interest-rate increases.
Spot gold last climbed 0.4% to $3,902.22 per ounce, but was down more than 4% so far this week.
The selling pressure has intensified since Tuesday, when stronger-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data and hawkish comments from Fed officials prompted investors to reassess the interest-rate outlook. Bets on a potentially larger-than-normal half-point rate rise next month have emerged.
Attention now turns to the release of the U.S. producer-price index on Friday, which could provide fresh insight into the path ahead for U.S. inflation.
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